CL 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



&ptf. iupi^rigigt !f 0. 

Shelf -.LB.LOZf 
-^ <M^1 

CMTED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Principles of Education 



MALCOLM MacVICAR, Ph.D., LL.D., 

Former Priticipal State Normal and Traifiing School, 
Potsdam, N. V. 

First Chancellor oj McMaster University, 
Toronto, Ont. 



BOSTON, U.S.A., AND LONDON: 

PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY 

1892. 



H 



.Mtl 



ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. 

Copyright, 1892, 

by 

M. MacVicar, Ph.D., LL.D. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



In preparing every part of the outline contained 
in this small volume the aim has been, not to give 
an exhaustive analysis or discussion of the subjects 
presented, but to furnish material that will provoke 
investigation and thought and that will render, at the 
same time, practical help to teachers and others in- 
terested in the education of the young. The outline 
is given in the form of propositions, followed by brief 
notes, which serve to explain or call attention to the 
truths which the propositions explicitly state or im- 
ply. These notes, being necessarily brief, present 
only in a partial way the views of their author. No 
attempt is made to discuss fundamental truths re- 
garding matter and mind, life and development, on 
which both the propositions and notes are based. 
It is hoped, however, that the propositions and notes 
are sufficiently full and explicit to be clearly under- 
stood and to serve the practical purposes for which 
they are intended. With this hope they are sub- 
mitted for the consideration and assistance of co- 
workers in educational effort. 



CONTENTS. 



General Principles, 
Educational Products, 
Physical and Mental Power, 
Right Habits, .... 
General Physical Habits, . 
General Intellectual Habits, 
General Moral Habits, 
Formation of Habits, 
Pure and Elevated Tastes, 
Acquisition of Knowledge, 
Periods of Development, 
Period of Infancy, 
Period of Childhood, . 
Period of Youth, 
Principles of Pupils' Work, 
Principles of Teachers' Work, 
General Principles, 
Special Principles of Teaching, 
Means to be used in Teaching, . 
The Management of Schools, . 
The Training of Teachers, 
Nature of Training Work, 
Teachers' Training Course, 
Physical Training, .... 
Academic or Intellectual Training, 
Moral and Spiritual Training, 
Professional Training, 



1-8 
9 

I0-20 
21-30 

31-33 
34-40 
41-48 

49-53 
54-65 
66-72 

7A--79 

80-88 

89-97 

98-16 

117 

118-123 

124-134 

135-142 

143-149 

150 

150-155 

156-158 

158-161 

162-164 

164-170 

170-178 



PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 

Under this head will be noted those principles 
of education which underlie every well directed ef- 
fort for the symmetrical development of a human 
being, and also the classification and nature of true 
educational products. 

I. Alt impartial and careful examination of the 
whole phenomena of life reveals clearly three great 
classes, viz. : Vegetal Life, Animal Life, and Mind 
Life. 

(a). The exact line which separates these three 
classes of life may be difficult to determine ; yet, not- 
withstanding this, the fact of the existence of the three 
classes cannot, upon any sound principles of classifica- 
tion, be rejected. It is, perhaps, well to note here that 
there exists no more difficulty in determining the Hne 
of separation between Mind Life and Animal Life, 
than between Animal Life and Vegetal Life. 

{b). Each one of these three classes of life has its 
own peculiar laws of growth or development, and 
hence each class is, in a certain sense, alike susceptible 



PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION'. 



of education. The fundamental problem, therefore, of 
education is the discovery and application of these 
laws; hence the careful study of biology and psychol- 
ogy is of first importance to the true educator. 

2. Each individual life origiiiates in a parent 
life, and derives from that parent life its inherent 
constitution. 

(a). This prbposition is now generally conceded by 
scientific authorities. Belief in spontaneous generation 
is a thing of the past. 

(b). What life is in itself is still a disputed question. 
Two views commonly prevail upon the subject. It is 
maintained on the one hand that life is the product of 
physical forces, and on the other that it is an independ- 
ent and distinct entity or endowment The latter is 
the view adopted in these notes. 

(c). Adopting the latter view, it is maintained that 
the life is the organizing power which selects and dis- 
poses of the material, physical and otherwise, which 
compose and perpetuate each organ of the body and 
faculty of the mind. It is maintained, also, that the life 
alone determines the nature and extent of the pos- 
sibihties inherent in both body and mind. 

(d\ The parent life bestows upon its offspring its 
own type of life and organism. This includes what 
may be called the natural or original type, and also 
such changes in life and organism as may have been 
acquired by the parent life. The acquired power or 
dexterity, for example, of some organ or faculty as well 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 



as the original type, may be transmitted from parent to 
offspring. 

3. TJie process of education, m a broad sevse, may 
he defijted as that by which external conditicns or ap- 
pliances are made, by the action of an agent^ the means 
of unfolding or developing symmetrically all the legiti- 
mate possibilities of a single life. 

{a). The word education is commonly used in two 
senses. It is used, as in this definition, to denote a pro- 
cess, but it is also used to denote the result or product 
of the process. As a process, a true and complete 
education means the course of training, instruction and 
discipline through which a human being must pass to 
acquire the full and legitimate exercise of all the organs 
of the body, the full and legitimate exercise of all the 
powers of the mind, and so much systematized knowl- 
edge as will fit him to use, in an intelligent and effi- 
cient manner, the organs of his body and powers of 
his mind, in performing physical, intellectual, moral 
and spiritual work. As a result or product, a true 
education means a symmetrically developed body and 
mind, possessed of power, right habits, pure and 
elevated tastes, and systematized knowledge. 

{h). A true and complete education, in accordance 
with this definition, is a growth, a development, an 
evolution (using the term evolution in a restricted 
sense), of all the possibilities which God has implanted 
in our nature ; it is the unifying of these possibihties 
subordinating them all to the control of the will; it is, 



PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 



in short, the crystallization of all these possibilities 
into a pure and noble character. This result is the 
product of the joint action of inherent natural powers, 
and environments supplied by parents, teachers and 
other agencies. 

(c). The process of education, in whatever way it 
may be carried on, involves three factors : namely, the 
teacher, the pupil, and the instrumentalities by which 
the teacher affects the pupil, or by which a vitalizing 
union is constituted between the pupil and what is ex- 
ternal to him. The word teacher, in this connection, is 
used to include any agent who directs and controls the 
instrumentalities by which the pupil is affected, hence 
the parents and the pupils themselves are included. 
When the pupils become their own agents in carrying 
on the work, the process is called self-education. 

4. Man, in all educational processes y must be re- 
garded as an organized unity composed of body and mind, 
united in such a manner that no one element of this 
complex whole can be developed, or in any way af- 
fected, without in some degree affecting tJie entire being. 

(a). The popular classification of education into 
physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual, is very mis- 
leading. It attracts attention from the absolute unity 
of our being. It causes many to suppose that the 
process of education is actually separable into four 
departments, each of which can be carried on abso- 
lutely independent of all the others. Those falling 
into this error find it difficult to understand why the 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 



Bible, which is the peculiar basis of spiritual educa- 
tion, should be a necessary element of physical and 
intellectual education. 

(h). Conflicting philosophical views prevail as to 
the real existence of the two substances — matter and 
mind. The materialist, on the one hand, maintains 
that matter is the only existing substance, and that 
the phenomena of thought, feeling and will are 
evolved from this substance. The idealist, on the 
other hand, maintains that mind is the only substance 
that has any real existence, and that all phenomena 
attributed to matter are necessarily phenomena 
evolved from mind. These are the two extreme 
views. A third view maintains the existence of the 
two substances, matter and mind, each being the 
source or origin of phenomena, which cannot upon 
any principles of sound reasoning, be derived from 
the other. This view holds that existing phenomena 
can be accounted for only by accepting the real and 
equally original and independent existence of matter 
and mind, both substances being mysteriously united 
in the constitution, and hence in the production of 
the phenomena of the complex unit called man. This 
is not the place to discuss or defend the merits of 
any one of these views. It is perhaps sufficient to 
say that the last-stated is the view adopted in these 
notes. 

(c). The unity of the body and mind, and the 
power of what may be called the law of reflex action 
in the development of both, is estabhshed beyond 



PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 



doubt by the most careful scientific observation and 
experiment. It is an obvious fact, even to common 
observers, that in the most minute details the body 
affects the mind, and the mind the body. Diseases 
of the body, for example, are not unfrequently the 
direct products of the reflex action of the mind. 

(<^). The law of reflex action extends much further 
than is usually supposed. It takes in the entire man. 
Not only does the body affect the mind, and the 
mind the body, in a general sense, but each organ 
of the body has a reflex influence over every other 
organ, and each faculty of the mind over every other 
faculty. There is a perfect interdependence running 
through the entire being. It is literally true, whether 
we refer to body or mind or to the union of both, 
that " if one member suffers all the members suffer 
with it, or if one member be honored all the mem- 
bers rejoice with it." In view, then, of the power 
and ever-operative nature of the law of reflex action, 
it is evident that the physical and intellectual natures 
cannot be symmetrically developed independent of a 
corresponding and parallel development of the moral 
and spiritual natures. 

(e). It may be here observed, that this proposition 
deserves from every teacher careful consideration, as 
it states one of the most fundamental conditions upon 
which a true philosophy of education must rest. 
Unless the real unity of man's being and the real 
reciprocal dependence of all the elements composing 
that unity are fully recognized, all educational pro- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 



cesses and efforts, however well devised and well di- 
rected, must ever fail of the best results, must ever 
fail of producing a symmetrical manhood. 

5. Man as an organized unit is possessed of two 
distinct, and yet related and niiitnally dependent^ classes 
of possibilities : namely, physical possibilities and men- 
tal possibilities. 

{a). The word possibilities is used in these notes 
to mean the quahties, properties, powers, or faculties 
inherent in an individual life and its organism, 
through which such life and organism are capable of 
growth or development, and of sustaining definite and 
operative relations to the w orld of mind and matter. 
The word organism is also used to refer to the mind 
as well as to the body. Each is equally organized. 
They differ not in the fact that the body is organized 
and the mind not, but in the nature of the substance 
of which each is composed. 

{b). The physical and mental organisms together con- 
stitute the unit man. Each organism, however, has 
possibilities which are exercised independent the one of 
the other. For example, there are various processes go- 
ing on constantly in the body, such as the action of the 
heart, which are, in a certain sense, entirely independ- 
ent of any action of the mind. There are, in like man- 
ner, in the higher regions of mental activity processes 
carried on which are equally independent of the body. 
(c). While it is true that the physical and mental 
organisms each possess independent possibilities, it is 



8 PRTNCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

also equally true that these possibilities cannot always be 
exercised independently. For example, the mind can 
have no consciousness of an external world, except 
through the activity of the organs of sense. But, 
still more, this dependence is of such a nature that 
there can be no healthy exercise even of the possibili- 
ties of the body or of the mind that are independent 
of each other, except as the possibilities whose exer- 
cise depends one on the other, and which bind the two 
organisms together as parts of one whole, are in full 
and healthy exercise. 

6. A true system of education must provide, at one 
and the same time, the conditions and appliances neces- 
sary for the separate and mutual development of the 
organs of the body, and of all the faculties of the mind. 

(a). The truth of this proposition follows necessarily 
from the two preceding propositions. 

{b). Not only does the growth or development of 
the body and of the mind run parallel with each 
other in point of time, but the healthy development of 
the one is dependent upon the healthy development of 
the other. Neither can be neglected for a single day 
without doing injury to the other. Healthy physical 
growth, for example, is impossible where a certain 
minimum of mental activity is not maintained. The 
converse of this is equally true ; hence the truth of the 
proposition. 

{c). The principle stated in this proposition refers not 
only to the general relations of body and mind, but 



EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS. 



also to the special relations of the organs of the one 
and the faculties of the other. The principle assumes, 
for example, that the healthy development of the in- 
tellectual elements of a man's nature is inseparably 
connected with and dependent upon the healthy de- 
velopment of both the moral and spiritual elements. 
In this, the principle correctly assumes that these three, 
apparently distinct elements of man's nature are 
necessarily only three phases of the one indivisible unit 
called mind, and, hence, that the conditions and ap- 
pliances used in conducting the educational process 
should, in their very nature, be such as will at the 
same time minister to the healthy development of each 
of these three elements. 



EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS. 

7. A careful examination aiid analysis of true edu- 
cational products willy it is believed^ justify classifying 
them under the following general heads : 

{a). Physical and mental power. 

\U). Right habits. 

(c). Pure and elevated tastes. 

(d). Systematized knowledge. 

(e). A reliable and symmetrical character, 

In reference to each of these classes of educational 
products, the following propositions should be carefully 
noticed : 



lO PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION, 



PHYSICAL AND MENTAL POWER. 

8. Power as an educational product is of two kinds : 
namely y Receptivity and Energy. 

(a). Receptivity is that form of power which enables 
man to receive impressions of all sorts, to endure, to 
bear, to suffer, to be influenced, to be trained to cer- 
tain courses of feeling, thought and action. 

(h). Energy, on the other hand, is that form of 
power which makes man a cause, which enables him 
to produce effects, to bring things to pass, to think, 
to act, to perform physical and mental work. 

(c). Power as a receptivity^ and also as an energy, is 
coextensive with man's entire being. Each organ of 
the body and faculty of the mind is endowed with 
power in each of these respects. This power is trans- 
mitted in its germinal form from parent to offspring, 
and is susceptible either of improvement or degeneracy, 
under conditions that will hereafter be noted. 

{d). Power as a receptivity is the only channel 
through which education in any of its phases is made 
possible. Indeed, the degree of receptivity, in each 
case, determines the degree or extent to which the 
education of the individual can be carried. For 
example, it is impossible to educate a person possessed 
of low receptive power for slight variations of sound, 
so as to become a critical judge of artistic music. 

(e). The degree to which power as an energy is pos- 
sessed determines the effectiveness of each man in the 
conduct of whatever may be his life work. This is 



PHYSICAL AND MENTAL POWER. II 

true, whether the man be viewed from the standpoint 
of physical or mental effort. 

9. Physical power is manifested through the two classes 
of organs of which the body is essentially composed: 
namely, the apparatus of organic life and the appa- 
ratus of animal life. 

{a). The function of the apparatus of organic life is 
to construct and to keep in working order every organ 
of the body ; that of the apparatus of animal Hfe is to 
place the mind in conscious and mechanical relations to 
the body itself and to the external world. The appa- 
ratus of animal life is composed — ist, of the cerebro- 
spinal nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal 
cord, and the nerves connected directly with these 
centres known as the sensory and motor nerves ; 2d, 
the skeleton, which includes the bones, cartilages, and 
ligaments ; and 3d, the muscles. These parts are 
united together in such a manner as to form two classes 
of devices, known as the sensory organs and the motor 
or mechanical organs. 

(b). The body as a whole maybe regarded as a com- 
plex machine, in which are located, at certain points, 
special devices or machines, composed of a combination 
of sensory nerves, motor nerves, bones and muscles, 
joined together and fitted to perform a special work. 
The feet, the hands, and the neck are illustrations of 
these devices. The hand, for example, is so constructed 
that it is capable of forming an almost endless variety 
of mechanical connections with external objects, and 



12 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

hence capable of performing a great variety of 
work. 

(c). The structure of the sensory organs should be 
carefully noted. Each is not a simple device composed 
exclusively of a group of special sensory nerves. For 
example, the eyeball and the motor nerves and muscles 
by which it is moved form each a part of the organ of 
sight. The position in the body, and the reason why 
each organ is so placed, should also be noted. The 
fact that the eye, the ear, the nose, and the tongue are 
located in the head, and the touch spread over the 
entire body, is not a matter of chance. 

{d). Each of the sensory organs, from its peculiar 
structure and position, is fitted to place the mind in 
conscious relation to only one class of phenomena in 
the external world. The eye connects the mind con- 
sciously with the phenomena of color, the touch with 
the phenomena of resistance, the ear with the phe- 
nomena Qi sound, the nose with the phenomena oi smell, 
and the tongue with the phenomena of taste. These 
simple classes of phenomena, and their necessary con- 
sequences and combinations, constitute all that can be 
known through the senses of the objective or material 
world. 

(e). No one of the five senses can place the mind 
in conscious relation to the phenomena which belong 
to another sense. The cases commonly known as a 
substitution of one sense for another are only apparent, 
not real. For example, it is supposed that a blind 
person can determine color by touch. In this case, 



PHYSICAL AND MENTAL POWER. 1 3 

where the person has been born blind, there never can 
be any consciousness of color. His apparent dis- 
crimination of colored objects is simply the result of 
his knowledge of the degree and nature of resistance 
substances give to the touch which are called blue, 
red, and so on. Hence he can pick out the objects 
that are blue or red, and speak of them as such as 
freely as a person who is actually conscious of the 
color. Another case, perhaps more to the point, is 
commonly cited, namely, determining extension by 
sight and touch. Here it is true that extension in a 
certain sense is given through each sense, but it must 
be noticed that the consciousness of extension given 
by the factor color through the sight is always sharply 
distinguished from the consciousness of the same ex- 
tension given through the sense of touch. 

(/). Our consciousness of objects in the external 
world is produced by the actual contact of these ob- 
jects with the sensory nerves ; hence all of the senses 
operate precisely in the same manner as touch. That 
which produces consciousness through the eye, the 
nose and the tongue, is as really in actual contact 
with the nerve in each case as that which produces 
it through the touch. For example, the conscious- 
ness of color and of extension, at least in two di- 
mensions, is caused by the actual contact of light 
with the optic nerve. 

{g). The motor organs are all subject to the di- 
rection and control of the mind, and have the power 
of forming habits. Hence thev can be educated or 



14 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

trained so as to perform the work for which they are 
intended in an easy and efficient manner. This train- 
ing should commence with the infant and continue 
through childhood and youth. It should receive the 
constant attention of both parents and teachers, as 
the strength and efficiency of the future man largely 
depend upon his ability to use . effectively the me- 
chanical organs. 

(h). The power and efficiency of the sensory and 
mechanical organs depend upon the formation of 
right habits of work, and these habits can be formed 
only by persistently training each organ in doing its 
own special work. Right habits of work are the 
products of time and persistent practice. Yet much 
can be done to help the child in forming habits by 
a proper regard to the simple demands of his nature. 
Those demands suggest that, in order to form good hab- 
its of work, his course of training should be arranged 
so that none of the following conditions are violated: 

(i). The special exercises for each organ should 
comprehend the entire range of work for which the 
organ is intended. 

(2). The organs should be exercised in such com- 
binations with each other as will occur in using them 
in actual life. 

(3). The activity of the organs called into exercise 
should not produce present or future pain or suffering. 

(4). The activity of the organs at every stage of 
the work, should be sustained by a present and pro- 
spective purpose. 



PHYSICAL AND MENTAL POWER. 1 5 

(5). Present results should always be arranged so 
that they require continued attention and repetition, 
in order that their full value may be realized. 

10. Mind as the source of poweT- is constituted so as 
to sustain conscious and iinconscioiis relations to entities 
and phenomena pertaining to space and its contents, to 
time and its contents, and to mind or spirit and its 
co7itents. 

(a). The mind is in no sense composed of parts 
which perform separate and distinct offices. It acts 
as an indivisible unit when it perceives, recalls what 
is past, wills, etc. While this is true, it is equally 
true that the mental energy exercised in perceiving 
and in willing, for example, can be clearly distinguished 
from each other, hence the various conscious mani- 
festations of mental energy can be classified. This 
gives rise to the distinctions Q,3\\^di faculties. A faculty, 
therefore, means the mind putting forth, as a unit, an 
energy which can be clearly distinguished from other 
manifestations of mental energy. 

{h). The exercise of mental energy may be classified 
under eight heads, as follows : The energy exercised, 

(i). In the act of perceiving or being conscious of 
what is now and here present to the mind ; 

(2). In the act of conserving or retaining out of con- 
sciousness knowledge or past experiences. 

(3) In the act of reproducing or bringing back 
into consciousness past experiences. 

(4). In the act of representing or holding up 



1 6 PRTNCTPLES OF EDUCATION'. 

before the mind all of which it has been or is con- 
scious ; 

(5). In the act of comparing or recognizing the 
differences and agreements between two or more 
objects of consciousness. 

(6). In the act of desiring or choosing or prefer- 
ring the presence of one kind of mental activity or 
passivity to another ; 

(7). In the act of willing or originating, continu- 
ing or changing any one or more of the activities of 
the mind ; 

(8). In the act of deciding when, where, how and 
for what purpose the active or receptive power of the 
mind ought to be exercised. 

{e). Mental power as a receptivity is not, as in the 
case of energy, susceptible of definite classification. 
Its exercise is especially manifest in the phenomena 
of pleasure and pain, habits, etc. 

I r. Acquired power, either as a receptivity or as an 
energy, is, in the fii^st place, the product of a healthy 
growth of the physical and mental organism. 

(a). A healthy growth is largely the product of a 
proper supply of suitable food. Body and mind are 
alike dependent for their growth upon this condition. 
The food of the former is matter, of the latter truth. 
The food of each, in order that it may promote a 
healthy growth of the organism, must be subjected 
to the same process, namely, digestion and assimila- 
tion. A healthy mental growth is just as dependent 



PHYSICAL AND MENTAL POWER. 1 7 

upon the digestion and assimilation of truth as a 
healthy physical growth is dependent upon the di- 
gestion and assimilation of matter. 

(/;). Suitable food means such a combination and 
variety of physical and mental food, supplied at one 
and the same time, as contains ail the elements that are 
necessary not only to develop bone and muscle and 
nerve, but also the more subtle organism of the mind. 
Only such food can minister properly to the healthy 
growth of both body and mind. 

(c). It should be further carefully noted, that food, 
possessing the elements necessary to develop one phase 
of the organism, may be entirely lacking in the 
elements necessary to develop other phases. For ex- 
ample, food which is only fitted to produce muscular 
tissue, is lacking in some of the elements necessary to 
produce bone. In like manner such truth, or mental 
aliment, as is fitted to nourish only the intellectual 
phase of the mental organism, is lacking in what is 
necessary to supply nourishment to the moral and 
spiritual phases of this organism. Hence an educa- 
tional process which supplies only, or even chiefly, an 
intellectual aliment must fail in developing moral and 
spiritual power. 

12. Power both as a receptivity and an energy is, 
in the second place, the product of the rigJit or inu- 
tually dependent use of all the organs of the body 
and faculties of the mind. 

(a). Activity is one of the necessary laws of all 



1 8 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

healthy growth or development. The activity of both 
the organs of the body and faculties of the mind is of 
two kinds, namely, that which originates entirely with- 
in these organs and faculties, and that which originates 
in an operative connection formed between them and 
what is outside of themselves. This latter is what is 
generally known as work. The continued and healthy 
existence of the former activity is dependent upon the 
latter. Any organ of the body or faculty of the mind, 
which becomes absolutely inactive in the latter sense, 
must also cease very soon to be active in the former. 

(b). Body and mind are constructed so that the or- 
gans of the one and the faculties of the other are de- 
signed for work, or, in other words, are designed to 
accomphsh certain definite ends or purposes outside 
of themselves. For example, the hand connects the 
body mechanically with the outside world, the eye 
sensitively or receptively, and the will causatively. 
In accomphshing the ends or purposes outside of 
themselves, it should be noted that the organs of 
the body and faculties of the mind are complemen- 
tary to each other, and hence that the activity of 
the one is dependent upon the activity of the other. 

(c). Power .both as a receptivity and an energy 
is evolved or developed in the act of performing 
work as defined in (a) and {b). This fact is verified 
by universal experience. It is a matter of common 
observation, that use or work develops additional 
energies in the arm of the blacksmith, in the reason- 
ing faculties of the mathematician and in the will 



PHYSICAL AND MENTAL POWER. 1 9 

of the man whose duty it is to control the action 
of others. It is equally a matter of common obser- 
vation that use or work develops additional recep- 
tivity or sensitiveness in the eye of the artist, in 
the ear of the musician, in the imagination of the 
poet, in the perception of the thinker, in the con- 
science of the man of moral efforts, and in the spirit 
of the man who walks with God. 

(d). It must be further observed that the evolu- 
tion or development of power, in its fullest and best 
sense, requires the natural and unconstrained use of 
all the possibilities of the entire man. It requires 
such a use or work as will call into full systematic 
and harmonious exercise each organ of the body 
and faculty of the mind. This requires the continuous 
and regular adjustment of work and appliances to the 
actual condition of both organs and faculties as they 
progress from one stage of development to another. 

13. A cai'efid analysis of the entire phenomena of 
power as an educational product will justify the fol- 
lowing classification : 



( I. Receptivity. ^ f^ Inlw.ctn 

Power, j jEach,^ ^^^^, 

(II. Energy. ) [4. Spiritual. 



{a). Physical, intellectual and moral power have, each 
of them, a germinal existence in the constitution of 
every human being, and are susceptible of develop- 
ment, as set forth in Arts, ii and 12. Spiritual power 



20 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION, 

begins also in a germ implanted in the constitution. 
Different views prevail, however, as to the nature and 
origin of this germinal power. Reference will be made 
to this in the notes on the study of the English Bible. 
Here it must simply be observed that development 
results from spiritual aliment and spiritual activity. 

(/?). These four classes of phenomena, while neces- 
sarily blended together as the one manifestation of 
the complex unit man, are, nevertheless, separated one 
from the other by marked characteristics. These char- 
acteristics are unmistakable, although, as in the case of 
vegetal and animal life, it may be difficult, if not im- 
possible, to draw a sharp line of separation indicating 
definitely the boundary of each. This is particularly 
true of intellectual, moral and spiritual power. The 
following indicates in a general way the sphere in which 
each class of power manifests itself. 

{c). Physical power manifests itself in feats of strength 
and agility, in graceful actions, in the artistic exercise 
of special organs of the body — as the hand — in han- 
dhng tools of all sorts, in performing, by the use of 
tools, all kinds of work, in connecting through the 
organs of sense the mind with the external world, etc. 

{d). Intellectual power manifests itself in thought, in 
searching into the nature of things, in discovering the 
origin and causes of all phenomena, in the acquisition 
and application of knowledge, in conducting courses of 
intricate and logical reasoning, etc. 

(e). Moral power manifests itself in recognizing and 
enforcing the rights and obligations of self and of all 



RIGHT HABITS. 21 



men, in sympathetic and self-sacrificing efforts for the 
relief of all kinds of distress and suffering, and for the 
highest good of all men, in clear and well-defined per- 
ceptions of right and wrong, in exercising that kind of 
courage that dares to do right under all conditions and 
circumstances, etc. 

(/). Spiritual power manifests itself in lifting up all 
that pertains to physical, intellectual and moral power 
into a life of consecration to God, a life of faith and 
works modeled after the life of Christ, etc. 



RIGHT HABITS. 

14. Habits are induced states of the body or of the 
mind through wJiich the pozver residing in each is ef- 
fectively nscd in performing zvork or in accomplishing 
given ends without the conscious exercise of the intel- 
ligence and will. 

{a). It should be carefully noted that taste is very 
generally mistaken for habits. For example, we speak 
of a man forming the habit of using tobacco, drinking 
intoxicating liquors, and of reading trashy and immoral 
books. In such cases as this, what is formed is not a 
habit at all, but a strong and vitiated taste. Habit, 
as the definition indicates, is an induced state of the 
body or mind which fits a person for the exercise of 
the energy or power he possesses in performing some 
given work. Taste, on the other hand, attracts its 
possessor to some subjective enjoyment, or guides him 
in the execution of his ideals. 



22 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

(b). In restricting the word habit to acquired or in- 
duced states of the body or mind, it is not intended to 
reject the fact, now so well established, that certain 
aptitudes of both body and mind are inherited. The 
cunning of the hand, the eye and the ear, as well as 
the power for certain subtle mental work, passes from 
the parent to the child. This is true, and such in- 
herited aptitudes must be treated as a part of the 
child's original capital ; but the educator is, however, 
specially interested in what can be added to this by 
acquisition. 

(c). The body and mind are endowed with power. 
(Art. 8.) Habit alone is the medium through which 
this power can be effectively utilized in performing 
work. The truth of this statement may be readily 
shown by reference to any sort of mechanical skill. 
Take, for example, the hand ; it is endowed naturally 
with the power of producing almost an infinite variety 
of motions. It is also subject, in a certain sense, to the 
direction of the mind. Does this fit it to handle suc- 
cessfully tools of any sort ? All will answer emphati- 
cally, no. Practice is needed in order to do this. But 
what is meant by this practice ? Simply this, that a 
persistent and continuous repetition, through an effort 
of the intelligence and will, of the motions of the 
hand, necessary to do a given kind of work by the 
use of certain tools, induces a state of the organism 
concerned in producing these motions which we call 
habit. Just here it is very important, in order to 
locate rightly the teacher's work, that we note with 



RIGHT HABITS. ^3 



some care the nature and use of these induced states 

or habits. c r, x. a 

(d) In the above example the motions of the hand 
in using the tools are at first produced, very imper- 
fectly and slowly, by the exercise of a strong effort of 
the intelligence and will. By persisting, however, m 
the practice, dexterity is gradually acquired, and the 
necessary effort of the intelligence and will gradually 
diminishes, until finally the work is performed with 
rapidity and ease, and with almost no conscious effort. 
The formation of all habits, whether of body or mmd, 
follows substantially the law here illustrated. It will 
therefore be observed that as rapidly as habits are per- 
fectly formed, conserved physical and mental power 
can be applied almost, if not altogether, unconscious- 
ly in the performance of work. In this case, the exer- 
cise of the intelhgence and will ceases to be neces- 
sary to direct and control the muscular and nerve 
energy or mental energy by which the work is per- 
formed. When this point is reached, workmanship of 
a high order becomes possible. But why is this ? The 
answer is plain. The mental energy, that was before 
required to handle and direct the tools, is now used in 
studying and perfecting the ideal as the work pro- 
gresses; hence the improved results. Universal ex- 
perience verifies this position. A first-class mechanic 
is in every instance, a man who has converted the use 
of each tool that he handles into a perfect habit, and 
hence who is able, while doing a piece of work, to 
give his whole attention to shaping everything with 



24 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION: 

reference to the finish and perfection of the work 
itself 

{/). What has just been stated as true of mechanical 
effort holds equally true of all departments of art. 
Finger and foot movements, for example, in piano and 
organ music, must become habits or unconscious acts 
before the player can produce any effects of a high 
order. To produce such effects, the intelligence and 
will must be perfectly free and directed to the ideal 
which the artist seeks to make real in his own mind 
and in the mind of his hearers. Painters, sculptors, 
orators and artists of every sort are equally as depend- 
ent as the musician upon the adaptation and perfec- 
tion of the habits formed. They can never produce a 
high order of results, until, by the formation of habits, 
the power of the inteUigence and will is left entirely 
free to be used in studying and shaping effects, rather 
than in directing and guiding purely mechanical move- 
ments. 

(/). It should further be noted that habits are no 
more necessary as conditions of efficient work where 
t^he body plays so important apart than they are where 
mind alone is concerned. A single example will 
illustrate this. The power of continued attention is a 
habit or: induced state of the mind. In the case of very 
young children this power scarcely exists. This 
is also true to a large extent of persons of mature 
years. In the first attempt at real study it requires a 
struggle, a strong effort of the will, to hold the mind 
continuously upon one point. This fact is clear in 



RIGHT HABITS. 2$ 



every person's experience. But there is another fact 
equally clear, namely, that the persistent and con- 
tinuous effort of the will in holding the attention in- 
duces a state of mind in which the exercise of this 
will-power becomes gradually less and less necessary. 
Indeed, as in the case of the use of tools, so in this, 
the point may be reached where the conscious exercise 
of the will is only necessary to initiate the act of atten- 
tion. This is exactly the condition of persons who, 
when their attention is turned to a subject, become 
entirely unconscious of their surroundings, and of 
everything but the matter under consideration. 

(^). In view of what has just been stated, a man 
properly fitted to be an efficient worker, either with 
his body or mind, is in a very real sense, a '' bundle of 
habits." This fact is not sufficiently recognized. The 
acquisition of knowledge, and not habits, is the chief 
if not the only end of the educational efforts of our 
schools and colleges. This is certainly a great mis- 
take. In this course the fact is overlooked that cer- 
tain kinds of knowledge are of little or no value, un- 
less accompanied by corresponding habits. As an 
example of this may be named a knowledge of gram- 
mar, composition or rhetoric. A pupil may acquire a 
very complete knowledge of all the facts and prin- 
ciples of grammar and rhetoric, and yet be utterly 
unable to speak or write correctly. To become able 
to speak or write correctly is not the product of 
knowledge, but of habit. Hence it comes to pass, not 
unfrequently, that persons, entirely ignorant of gram- 



26 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

mar, as taught in our schools, speak and write the 
English language more correctly than many who have 
spent years in acquiring an exhaustive technical 
knowledge of the subject. 

(Ji). It should here be carefully noted that in the 
entire range of subjects which compose an elemen- 
tary education, the chief thing to be acquired is not 
knowledge, but habits. This must be evident to 
every educator who has given the subject any consid- 
eration. In all elementary work the acquisition of the 
art of doing is the important thing, and should re- 
ceive first attention. A perfect knowledge, for example, 
of all the rules that have ever been made regarding 
reading will never make a good reader. The power 
to read with expression means the acquisition of an 
art; it means the training of organs, and hence the 
formation of habits. But what is true of reading is 
equally true of spelling, of writing, of arithmetic, of 
grammar, and of composition. In each of these sub- 
jects, the art or habit of doing certain things in a 
certain way is the chief object to be accomplished by 
both teacher and pupil. 

(i). What is true in regard to the acquisition of habits 
in an elementary education is equally true of higher 
education. It should be observed, however, that after 
passing from the elementary to the more advanced 
stages of work, the habits acquired have reference not 
so much to the physical as to the intellectual, moral 
and spiritual factors of the nature. When habits of 
the right sort are not formed, with reference to each 



RIGHT HABITS. 2/ 



of these factors, the education Is very imperfect ; it 
means but very little. A wide range of knowledge 
may be acquired, but this will serve scarcely any 
purpose in real life. A large share of it must, in the 
very nature of things, disappear as soon as the school 
or college is left. What will be of real service in 
the life work is the man that the training afforded 
has produced. But the man does not mean knowl- 
edge, however valuable this may be ; it means the 
power acquired and the habits and tastes formed by 
which this power can be utilized. It is the acquisi- 
tion of these alone that will make the man felt in 
his contact with his fellows, and that will give 
him success in whatever calling in life he may en- 
gage. 

(y). From the foregoing suggestion on the nature 
and use of habits, it will be readily seen that they 
constitute a very important factor in a symmetrical 
education. Power without right habits is of com- 
paratively little value, inasmuch as habits constitute 
the only medium through which power can be effec- 
tively utilized in performing work. It is also not 
undervaluing knowledge as one of the principal fac- 
tors of an education, when it is said, that its acqui- 
sition is of much less importance in the development 
of a vigorous and symmetrical manhood than the ac- 
quisition of power and right habits. Too much stress, 
therefore, cannot be placed upon the formation of 
right habits as an essential part of a true edu- 
cation. 



28 PRiyCTPLES OF EDUCATION. 



15. Habits may be variously classified according to 
the end or purpose to be served by the classification. 

{a). They may be classified, for example, with 
reference to their source or nature into pJiysical and 
mental habits, and with reference to their products 
or results into general and special habits. 

{b). The following presents the classification adopted 
in these notes : 



Habits are 



C I. Special ) 4 i. Physical 

< \ These are < C («). Intellectual 

f 2. General > (2. Mental < \b). Moral 

i\c). Spiritual 

(c). Special habits will not be outlined beyond 
pointing out their nature and place as factors of edu- 
cation. Their discussion belongs properly to profes- 
sional or special education, and includes a much 
wider range of details than is intended to be cov- 
ered in these notes. 



16. A special habit may be defined as a habit zuhich 
ib acquired for the purpose of performing some one 
definite kind of ivork. 

(a). Every special work, which organs of the body 
or faculties of the mind are intended to perform, ne- 
cessitates, for its easy and perfect performance, the 
acquisition of special habits or aptitudes. For ex- 
ample, the fingers are intended to perform, and do 
perform, an indefinite range of special kinds of work. 
But it is a well-known fact to every one, that the 
intelligence and will cannot make the fingers instru- 
mental in doing finished work in any line whatsoever. 



RIGHT HABITS, 29 

until, by continued practice in doing the \moxV, fiiigcr- 
Jiabits are formed. When this is done, the use of 
the intelligence and will in directing the efforts of 
the fingers becomes almost entirely unnecessary. The 
art of knitting is a good example of this kind. 

(b). The range of special habits is practically un- 
limited. The free and effective use of every imagi- 
nable tool calls for a special habit. The effective use, 
also, of each of the senses in doing special kinds of 
work necessitates the formation of special habits. The 
artist's eye, as well as his hand, if he would be a 
master in his department, must acquire strong and 
well-defined habits of seeing things as they really 
are, and of seeing in these things the possibilities 
they possess of new combinations and relations, 
which, when wrought out, will give rise to new forms 
of exquisite symmetry and beauty. 

{c). The mind in performing its work is no less 
dependent upon special habits than the body. The 
intellectual worker, for example, who can only hold 
his mind to a given line of thought by a constant 
effort of his w^ill, is in no better condition to do his 
work than the mechanic, who, by a similar effort of 
his will, handles his tools. Both, so long as their 
work is done in this way, must equally fail to pro- 
duce finished results. 

17. A general habit may be defined as a Jiabit, 
tJic exercise of ivJiieh necessitates the formation of spe- 
cial habits, and zuhich also of itself serves to accom- 



PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATTON-. 



plish, not one but several ends, differing in their na- 
ture and purpose. 

(a). The habit of doing well everything in the pro- 
duction of which the organs of the body are con- 
cerned is a good example of a general habit. This 
habit, it will be readily seen, affects the quality and 
the exercise of a wide range of special habits. For 
example, take the case of a mechanic in whom this 
habit is fully established ; he will not be satisfied 
with acquiring imperfectly the minimum of special 
habits necessary for the handling of the tools of his 
special line of work. No, he must possess more than 
this. He will give himself no rest until the special 
habits required have reached such a degree of per- 
fection as will enable him to perform what he under- 
takes in a workmanlike manner. 

(b). The general habits which a man acquires 
affect not only the quality and exercise of groups of 
special habits which serve to perform a given work, 
but each of them affects in a peculiar manner the 
tendencies and activities of the entire man. The 
general habit, for example, referred to in (a), when 
fully established, will give tone and character to every 
kind of work to which the man possessing it may 
turn his attention. Should he even pass from manual 
to mental work, the power and influence of this habit 
acquired in the former will at once pass over into 
the latter kind of work. 

(r). In view of the nature of general habits and 
their peculiar relation to speeial habits, their impor- 



GENERAL PHYSICAL LIABITS 3 I 



tance as a chief element in a sound education cannot 
be overestimated. It is not too much, therefore, to 
say that to assist and wisely direct his pupils in form- 
ing right general habits is a first work of the true 
educator. When this work is well done, the special 
habits necessary for any given line of effort will 
be readily formed whenever required. 

The following brief outline indicates the most im- 
portant general habits and their special province and 
use as factors of a general education. 

GENERAL PHYSICAL HABITS. 

1 8. TJlc habit of being constantly active under all 
legitimate conditions. 

(a). Physical activity is the result of a natural or 
of an induced state of the body. The activity of 
most, if not all, young children is an example of the 
former. The latter constitutes a habit. A good 
example of this habit is found in the case of a man 
who, because of constant activity, has induced such 
a state of his body as makes him uneasy and dis- 
contented when he ceases to be engaged in active 
work. When this habit is formed, everything under- 
taken will be executed promptly and with energy. 

(U). This habit cannot be formed when only one line 
of activity is pursued. Such a course induces just the 
opposite habit ; namely, that of laziness. This is 
illustrated very clearly in the case of professional 
performers of any sort. Such performers are capa- 



32 FJ^iyciPLES OF education: 



ble of intense activity in their chosen line. But 
when not engaged in this chosen line, they find 
that to be active is a great burden. They have, in 
fact, induced the habit of indolence or laziness. Pro- 
fessional firemen, professional ball-players, etc., are 
examples of this sort. 

19. TJie habit of doing ivell every tiling in zvJiich 
the organs of the body are concerned. 

{a). This habit is usually formed through the influ- 
ence of models. For example, the child imitates the 
parents until he cannot do otherwise than act as they 
act, perform his work as they perform it. In this case 
it is literally true that as the parent is, so is the child. 
This peculiar influence extends to all relations of life. 
But nowhere is its power shown so fully as in the case 
of parents and teachers. They are the models, which 
are largely the determining factors in the life of all 
under their care. 

{b). When this habit is fully established, it will pro- 
duce uneasiness and dissatisfaction in regard to every- 
thing that is not well done, or that shows carelessness 
in its execution. It will, in short, aflect the execution 
of everything in which the body is the agent. It will 
determine alike, for example, the way in which artists, 
mechanics, farmers, housekeepers, etc., perform their 
work. 

20. TJie habit of employing, always, the organs of 
dy to accomplish right and iLseful ends. 



the body to accom^ 



GENERAL PHYSICAL HABITS. 33 



[a). The ability to conserve and economise physical 
energy is certainly a very important acquisition, yet 
little attention is given in our educational processes to 
this acquisition. Hence, the literal waste of physical 
power in the life of almost every man is enormous. 
The old maxim, ** Take care of the pennies, and the 
pounds will take care of themselves," if applied to 
physical energy, would yield quite as valuable results 
as when applied to money matters. But can it be 
applied ? Certainly it can, and should be. The habit 
of employing the physical energy which God has 
given us to accomplish right and useful ends can be 
formed just as readily as the habit of handling money 
in the same way. Physical energy is capital stock 
just as much as money and other property ; and more, 
it is the chief if not the only capital stock possessed 
by the great mass of mankind. How important, then, 
that a habit which will secure the right use of this 
universal possession should be acquired. 

{b). When this habit is formed, it will determine 
very largely, if not entirely, the use that will be made 
of physical energy, not only in our daily work, but 
also in our times of recreation and amusements. 
Recreation and amusements are as necessary to the 
proper and effective use of the mind and body as 
food. But alas ! just as in the case of the use of 
food, so in this : the abuse is almost universal. 
Knowledge will not save men from this abuse in 
either case. This is evident in the matter of food 
and drink, for the men that know the most about both 



34 PRiNcrrLES of education. 

are not infrequently the victims of the greatest 
abuse. A confirmed habit of right Hvino-, and not 
knowledge, is the safeguard from this abuse. In 
like manner, a confirmed habit of using physical 
energy always for right and useful ends is the safe- 
guard against a large share of the abuses growing out 
of modern recreations and amusements. 

The three " General Physical Habits " to which 
attention has just been called, if acquired, will secure 
to a very large extent the proper and efficient use 
of the body. They constitute essential conditions, if 
not the only key to real success in any kind of exer- 
cise or work dependent upon the expenditure of phys- 
ical energy. 

GENERAL INTELLECTUAL HABITS. 

The importance of forming right intellectual habits 
cannot be overestimated. The failure to do so makes 
effective intellectual effort a perpetual drudgery. The 
most careful supervision of the work of the young 
pupil is necessary to avert this result. Habits are 
readily formed at this time. During this period one 
of the most important things to accomplish is the 
formation of right intellectual habits. Failing to do 
this, whatever the pupil's intellectual ability may be, 
he will fail largely in using his ability effectively, 
and with the largest and best results. The follow- 
ing constitute the most important general intellec- 
tual habits to be acquired during the formative pe- 
riod 



GENERAL INTELLECTUAL HABITS. 35 



21. TJic habit of attention^ or the poivcr of center- 
ing mental energy upon a given snbjeet, or of excluding 
from consciousness everything zuhich does not pertain 
strictly to the subject tinder consideration. 

(a). Each human being is possessed of a definite 
amount of mental energy, natural (Art. lo) and ac- 
quired (Art. ii). This energy is capable of being 
applied as a unit, of being completely centered upon 
one definite work ; or, on the other hand, it is capa- 
ble of being divided and hence distributed among 
several kinds of work. When the former condition 
prevails, the mind exhibits its maximum power of 
effort. This condition is, however, rarely if ever 
reached. But the nearer it is approached, the more 
effectively can mental energy be applied in perform- 
ing any given work. The habit of attention is the 
chief if not the only medium through which this 
approach can be made, hence its formation is abso- 
lutely necessary to successful mental effort. 

(b). This habit is, in the first place, of the nature 
of a centralizing power. It operates upon the divided 
elements of mental energy very much as the burn- 
ing-glass operates upon the divided rays of the sun. 
It brings all of these elements to a focus. And just 
as combustion necessarily follows when the rays of 
the sun are brought to a focus by the burning-glass, 
so the analysis or decomposition of difficult complex 
truths is at once accomplished when all the elements 
of mental energy are brought to a proper focus by 
the habit of attention. 



36 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

(c). This habit is, in the second place, of the na- 
ture of an abstracting power, a power by which the 
mind withdraws itself from a conscious relation to 
everything but the subject under immediate consid- 
eration. This means such a state of the mind as ex- 
cludes from its entire operations all that is necessarily 
forced upon it by its connection with the organs of 
sense and their environments, and also with its own 
past experiences. This means, in short, such a state 
of being as effectually closes for a time all active 
conscious relations between the mind and everything 
else, but one single absorbing subject. That such a 
state of being is possible, is fully certified by ex- 
treme cases of what is known as absent-minded- 
ness. 

22. The habit of conducting observations^ and, where 
necessary, experiments in an orderly, acciwate and ex- 
haustive manner. 

(a). In the earlier stages of the pupil's work too 
much importance cannot be attached to the forma- 
tion of this habit. At that time he is naturally care- 
less, and in haste to reach results. This tendency must 
be checked by impressing him with the fact that the 
way in which his work is done is far more impor- 
tant to him than results. 

(/?). Observation covers a wider range than the use 
of the eye. Every one of the five senses has its 
own field of exercises, and each should receive 
proper attention with reference to this habit. Obser- 



GENERAL INTELLECTUAL HABITS. I'J 



vatlon includes, in addition to the ordinary use of the 
senses, their use supplemented by mechanical devices. 
The use of the eye, supplemented by the microscope 
or telescope, is an example of this kind. 

(c). Where this habit is not formed, there is no 
safeguard against crude, and, in many instances, very 
imperfect and unwarranted conclusions being drawn 
from insufficient premises. Hence, without this habit, 
rehable and real progress in any line of investigation 
is impossible. This statement applies not only to the 
physical senses, but to all lines of investigation. The 
necessity of this habit in pursuing successfully and 
with safety investigations in language, philosophy, 
theology, etc., is as great as in the study of the nat- 
ural sciences. Let this habit be thoroughly established 
during school life, and an element is fixed in the 
character that will prove an invaluable help and safe- 
guard in every department of life's work. 

23! TJie Jiabit of making always a diligent search 
for the reason, or catLse of things. 

(a). Inquisitiveness is a marked characteristic of 
child life. As already stated, it lies at the root of 
all his mental activity. It at first demands an answer 
to the question, " IVhat is it? " but its demand does 
not end here. It asks \\\ the second place an answer 
to the question, " Why is this as it is .^ " This in- 
quisitiveness, which at first is largely aimless, if 
properly directed, gradually grows into an intel- 
lectual habit of great value — 1. habit without which 



38 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION, 



science and philosophy would make but little prog- 
ress. 

(U). While it is true that inquisitiveness is a com- 
mon characteristic of child life, it is not true that all 
can with the same readiness form this habit. Indeed, 
there are many cases where, unless taken at the 
right time, and handled with great skill, the forma- 
tion of this habit is impossible. In such cases scien- 
tific and philosophical studies can be pursued only 
in a very superficial way. 

24. The habit of careful 7'eflection, and of close self- 
questioning, upon every tiling that is made a subject of 
study y as a means of solving a7td explaining difficult 
ties. 

{a). It may be laid down as a fixed rule, that a 
subject is not properly seized by the mind until re- 
flection and close self-questioning becomes a mental 
necessity. The truth of this statement will become 
evident when the nature of genuine study is analyzed. 

(b). Until this habit is formed, the student is not 
in a condition to pursue successfully by himself new 
courses of investigation. Nor is he even in a condi- 
tion to receive the full disciplinary benefit of the 
work he actually does. Reflection, meditation and 
self-questioning are of the nature of a digestive pro- 
cess, and through this process alone can truth be 
dissolved and assimilated, and made in a proper sense 
a personal possession. Hence, it is of first impor- 
tance that this habit should be formed at an early 



GENERAL INTELLECTUAL HABITS. 39 

Stage of the student's life. In an elementary sense, 
very young children can form this habit. 

25. TJic habit of contunting every luoj'k undertaken 
until it is properly eonipleted. 

(a). This habit when formed gives continuity and 
stability to every work the student undertakes. Dis- 
couragements and defeats of necessity meet every, 
one, not only during school life, but afterwards. The 
habit formed of persistently holding on to every 
work undertaken, until it is properly completed, is 
in a large measure the true solvent of these dis- 
couragements and defeats. 

(b). If this habit is to be formed, parents and teach- 
ers must be guarded in assigning to the child or 
pupil such work, as he can, in view of his abihty 
and conditioning circumstances, finish without over- 
taxing him. They must also be guarded not under 
any circumstances to accept of half-finished work. 
Young persons are usually just about as careless in 
matters of this sort as parents and teachers permit. 

26. TJie habit of formulating in writing, eorreetly 
and clearly, every proeess and result of thought before 
regarding sueh proeess and result as fully mastered, 

{a). The importance of this habit cannot be over- 
estimated. It serves to hold the student to his work 
until the subject under examination is viewed from 
all sides, and is unified in his own mind. To be 
unable to commit to writing in a plain and forcible 



40 principlef; of education. 



manner what has been carefully studied, is evidence 
that the subject is not yet fully and clearly defined 
in the mind. 

(h). The formation of this habit is also of first im- 
portance, because of its practical nature. It matters 
not in what calling of Hfe engaged, this habit can 
be turned to first-class account. A man who can 
put his thinking upon any subject in writing, in a 
clear and forcible manner, all other things being equal, 
has always the advantage in any department of work 
over those who cannot do this. 

(c). This habit is usually found difficult to acquire. 
This arises chiefly from the fact that the formation 
of the habit is not commenced early enough, and 
when commenced, unnatural methods ot expressing 
his thoughts are forced upon the pupil. If the child 
is taken at the right time, and trained to express in 
written form what he is accustomed to express orally, 
he will soon take real pleasure in putting in writing 
his oral utterances. In this way the desired habit 
will soon be formed, and when more advanced, the 
pupil will acquire the powder of condensing and ex- 
pressing his thinking in a clear and forcible manner. 

GENERAL MORAL HABITS. 

It is not what a man knows, but what he is, that 
determines his real course of life. In the past far 
too much stress has been laid by parents and teach- 
ers upon the importance of a sound knowledge of 



GENERAL MORAL HABITS. 4I 

moral truths, and of the teachings of the Bible This 
surely is important and not to be neglected, but it is 
a fatal error to suppose that, where such knowledge is 
acquired, a young person is prepared to enter life fully 
assured of pursuing a true and noble course. Such 
knowledge, in order to secure this result, must be more 
than fixed formally in the memory so as to be readily 
recalled. It must be embodied in a well ordered course 
of life, that will secure the formation of permanent moral 
habits. Such habits will abide and exercise a controlling 
influence upon the life, when the knowledge acquired 
may fail entirely to guide and determine the course of 
conduct that should be pursued. The acquisition, there- 
fore, of right moral habits is of first importance. Without 
such habits young persons will find it difficult, if not im- 
possible, to maintain a blameless moral character, under 
the changed surroundings which they must usually en- 
counter, when they enter upon their life work. Such 
habits are also as essential, as a preparation for effective 
moral work, as physical and intellectual habits are as 
a preparation for effective physical and intellectual 
work. In the following brief outline only such habits 
are given as experience has shown of real value, in 
maintaining a true manhood, in the midst of the traps, 
pitfalls and allurements of modern life. 

2^. The habit of rendering prompt obedience to the 
dictates of conscience and to the rightful commands of 
others. 



42 PRTXCTPLES OF EDUCATIOX. 

(a). He that has acquired fully the power to obey, 
has in doing so acquired also the power to command. 
This is the experience of such as have risen to posi- 
tions of command. They know the full power of 
the expression — He that has fully mastered himself 
is in a position, when required, to master others. 
Experiences of this kind emphasize very strongly 
the importance and practical nature of this habit. 

(b). In seeking to guide in forming this habit, the 
nature of real obedience must not be overlooked. 
Obedience, whether we refer to the conscience or to 
the command of another, does not mean acts which 
are the products of coercion. The formal perform- 
ance of what the parent, teacher or other agent may 
require is not necessarily obedience. The boy who 
does what his father or teacher may require, because 
the rod is held over his head, does not obey in the 
sense intended in this habit. Such an act is, how- 
ever, sometimes wrongfully called an act of obedi- 
ence. Anything short of a voluntary act should not 
be regarded as true obedience. 

[c). The formation of this habit should commence 
at the cradle, and it should be perfected as the child 
passes through the development of the three periods 
of infancy, childhood and youth. It must be care- 
fully noted that to obey either the dictates of con- 
science, or the commands of another, is compara- 
tively easy under one set of conditions, while ex- 
ceedingly difficult under another. Hence this habit 
can reach its perfected form only after passing through 



GENERAL MORAL HABIT.^. 43 



the various changing conditions suppHed by these 
three periods of development. 

(d). Parents and teachers not infrequently fail in 
securing the formation of this habit. This is chiefly 
the result of two causes. In the first place they make 
demands which the child cannot comply with, because 
of lack of sufficient physical, intellectual, or moral de- 
velopment. For example, it is not an infrequent 
occurrence for a parent or teacher to demand of an 
immature child a course of conduct, which they would 
find, even with their mature powers, difficult to pursue. 
But in the second place the demands made are not ac- 
companied by the right kind of motives or stimuli to 
enable the child to obey. By motives or stimuli are 
not meant promises of rewards in the way of sweet- 
meats, gifts, prizes, etc., but rather rational conditions 
and ends, which appeal both to the conscience and 
reason. 

28. Tlic Jiabit of sincere and careful reflcctio)i upon 
the effects of our actions, in reference to ourselves and 
others, and upon the reasons that make it desirable 
that we should, or should not, act in any given case. 

{a). Sincere and careful reflection is one of the 
strongest safeguards against mistakes in every depart- 
ment of active life. But this is specially true when 
applied to the effects of our actions upon ourselves and 
others. ** If I had only thought, if I had only consid- 
ered; how different I would have acted," is almost the 
universal statement of those who fall into wrong and 



44 PRINCIPLES OF education: 

fatal courses of conduct. " I thought on my way and 
turned my feet unto thy testimonies," was the experi- 
ence of the Psalmist. This is also the usual experience 
of all who sincerely reflect upon the effects of their 
actions upon themselves and others. How important, 
therefore, that this habit should be formed at an early 
age. 

{b). The natural course of things in the early life of 
a child makes it easy to form this habit. His first con- 
tact with the external world in which his mistakes 
bring to him pain and suffering forces him to reflect 
upon the effects of his acts upon himself It leads him 
also to consider carefully the reasons that make it de- 
sirable that he should, or should not, act. This natural 
condition of things properly utilized by parents and 
teachers will result in forming this habit. The child 
only needs to be encouraged and directed in order to 
become as thoughtful in regard to the effects of his 
actions upon others as upon himself He commences 
to be thoughtful upon what brings him suffering and 
pleasure through the organs ot the body ; but, under 
proper guidance, he will extend his thoughtfulness 
to the workings of his mind, as well as his body. 
This thoughtfulness may be directed by parents and 
teachers so as to extend to every act ; in short, 
so that the habit may be firmly formed of never acting 
without sincere and careful reflection upon the con- 
sequences that may follow. 

{c). From what has just been said, it will appear that 
this habit can be most readily formed during the 



QEXERAL MORAL HABITS. 45 



period of infancy and childhood. For this there are 
several reasons, but chief among them is the fact, that 
all habits are most easily formed during the plastic or 
formative state of the particular growth with which the 
habit is connected. It is, therefore, all important to 
the future of the child that this and all other moral 
habits should receive attention at the right time. 
Neglect here is fraught with fatal consequences to the 
character of the future man. 

29. TJie habit of treating zvitJi proper regard our 
superiors in age^ position^ or ability ^ our equals in 
every respect^ and our inferiors in one or more respeets. 

{a). The great importance of this habit, its meaning 
and binding nature, is extensively stated in God's 
word : *' Render therefore to all their dues : tribute 
to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom ; 
fear to whom fear ; honor to whom honor. Owe no 
man anything, but to love one another : for he that 
loveth another hath fulfilled the law." 

(b). What has been said of the formation of the pre- 
ceding habit applies equally to this. *' As the twig is 
bent the tree 's inclined " is literally true here. Let the 
young child be taught to treat with proper regard su- 
periors, equals and inferiors ; let the habit of doing so 
be fixed firmly upon him, and he will, as he grows 
to manhood, illustrate in his life the Bible require- 
ments in this respect. 

(f). As the child is largely a creature of imita- 
tion, the parent and teacher must place before him. 



46 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

in their own conduct, a perfect example of what 
they want him to be and to do. It is useless to talk 
to the child about being respectful to others, unless 
the talk is accompanied by a Hving example. Speak 
to him politely, if you would have him speak to you 
and others pohtely. Treat respectfully and lovingly 
your equals and inferiors, if you want the child to 
pursue a similar course. In short, apply the golden 
rule to the treatment of the child as fully and as 
literally as in your dealings with those of mature age. 
Do unto the child as you would the child should do 
unto you, and this habit will soon become a ruling 
principle of the child's life. 

30. The habit of being strictly honest in dealing 
with ourselves, and in our dealings with others. 

(a). Self-deception is one of the chief causes of 
wrong and even criminal courses of action. The first 
steps of a downward course of life have their origin 
here. A deliberate choice of what is wrong in itself 
is not the usual beginning of a downward course. By 
a subtle process of self-deception, what is wrong is 
made to appear right, and hence the course of conduct 
that follows is justified and is considered the true one 
to pursue. This peculiar tendency of our nature the 
Bible places before us in strong and explicit terms in 
the following language : " The heart is deceitful above 
all things and desperately wicked : who can know it ?" 
In view of this condition of things the formation of 
this habit is both important and difficult. 



GENERAL MORAL HABITS. 47 



(b). Notwithstanding the natural difficulties which 
must be encountered in forming this habit, much can 
be accomplished if the effort to do so is commenced 
with infancy. There is a degree of simplicity and 
honesly in the ordinary child-life that makes the 
formation of the habit possible. This seems to be 
clearly implied in Christ's statement to his disciples 
when he says, *' Verily, I say unto you, except ye be 
converted and become as little children, ye shall not 
enter into the kingdom ot Heaven." 

[c). The demand of to-day in business life, in political 
life, in church life, and, indeed, in family life, is trans- 
parent honesty in our dealings with ourselves and 
others. This demand calls for earnest and radical 
efforts to cultivate the formation of this habit in the 
family, and in our schools and colleges. 

31. The habit of doing zvith all our might zv hat- 
ever our intelligence and conscience may approve as 
right. 

[a). Half-heartedness is to be avoided in doing 
everything, but especially so in matters affecting our 
moral character. A right act or a right course of con- 
duct should not be discounted by the way it is per- 
formed. This, however, is very commonly done. Men 
reason very correctly upon the most of moral ques- 
tions, but they act as if they did not believe their own 
reasoning. 

{b). Young children are naturally single in their aims. 
Their whole energy is usually applied to whatever 



48 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 



they may have in hand. They differ widely, hov/ever, 
in natural energy or force, but whatever they may pos- 
sess in this respect is readily centered upon what claims 
present attention. This is peculiarly true in matters 
approved by the intelligence and conscience. Young 
children are, therefore, in the best possible condition to 
form this habit. They need only proper guidance upon 
the par.t of parents and teachers, in the course of their 
early training, to convert this natural tendency into a 
strong and useful habit. 

(c). The importance of forming this habit cannot be 
overestimated. When formed, it gives character and 
power to everything undertaken. It secures the con- 
fidence of ail whom we may seek to serve in any way. 
It even disarms the criticism of those who may differ 
widely from us in our views of what is right and wrong. 
All men tacitly approve of downright earnestness in 
executing what the intelligence and conscience recog- 
nize as right. 

THE FORMATION OF HABITS. 

32. Habits are formed by the cojitinuoits and fre^ 
quent repetition, tinder right conditions, of the act or 
state by ivJiicJi a given end is accomplished, 

(a). There are three elements concerned in the forma- 
tion of habits which must be carefully noted; namely, 
the act or state by which the proposed end can be ac- 
compHshed, the intelligence which directs the act or state 
in accomplishing the given end, and the will power by 



THE FORMA TION OF HABITS, 49 



which the act or state is produced. The process by 
which the habit of knitting is acquired, for example, 
illustrates these three factors and substantially the way 
in which all habits are formed. When the attempt is 
first made to do this work, the needles are directed 
every time by the use of the eye, and each motion is 
produced by a distinct act of the will. Both the eye 
and the will are so occupied at this stage with the act 
to be performed that attention cannot be given to any- 
thing else. By practice, however, the use both of the 
eye tnd of the will becomes less and less necessary. 
Finally by long and continued practice they cease to 
be required except to initiate the work. When this 
point is reached, the intelligence and will being liber- 
ated, other matters can receive attention and be freely 
discussed at the same time the work in hand is in 

progress. 

{b). The length of the interval of time between the 
repetitions of an act or state is an important factor in 
the formation of habits. For example, it is evident 
that the habit of playing upon the piano can never 
be acquired by striking the keys in a given scale, 
in their proper order, an unlimited number of times, 
assuming that no key in the scale is touched oftener 
than once every ten days. It is, therefore, not repe- 
tition alone that is neccessary to form habits readily, but 
repetition with the interval of time between the acts re- 
duced to its minimum. 

(c). The repetition of the act or state involved must 
be consecutive. It must also, in order to produce the 



50 PRI.YCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

best effect, be continued, each time it is undertaken, 
as long as a normal condition of the body and mind 
can be maintained. The truth of this position is fully 
verified by experience. No habit of any sort can be 
acquired, within a reasonable length of time, when this 
condition is partially or wholly neglected. Instances 
of this neglect are of frequent occurrence in school 
work. The absence of well-conducted drill exercises, 
which should consist chiefly of systematic repetitions, 
is an example of this kind. The evil consequences 
of such neglect are very great, when we take into 
account the fact that almost every work the pupil 
undertakes must be reduced to a fixed habit, in order 
to be of practical value to him in after-life. The study 
of Arithmetic, Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, etc , are 
famiHar examples of this sort. It is true that these 
subjects have a practical educational value because of 
the mental discipline they afford. But this is not 
half their value. For example, the discipline acquired 
in gaining a knowledge of the principles and laws of 
Logic is important, but the power and habit of rea- 
soning in accordance with these principles and laws, 
whether they are formulated as knowledge or not, is 
far more important. This, however, can only be ac- 
quired by doing, not by knowing. The habit of rea- 
soning clearly and accurately is the product of per- 
sistent repetitions of acts of reasoning. 

{d). The readiness v/ith which a habit is formed de- 
pends upon a variety of conditions. Among these 
conditions may be named age, constitutional tenden- 



THE FORMA TION OF HABITS. 5 I 

cies, the relation of the habit to be formed to others 
already formed, the exactness with which the act or 
state is repeated, and the intensity of the conscious- 
ness at the time of each repetition. 

33. The power and influence of habits in sJiaping 
and executing our course of life depend largely upon 
the conditions under wliich they are formed. 

{a). The truth of this proposition is included in the 
fact that any past state or experience of body or mind 
is capable of being reproduced in its entirety by the 
presence of one or more of the elements which consti- 
tuted a part, in the past, either of the given state or 
experience, or of the conditions through which it was 
produced. The reproduction of past knowledge by 
laws of association is universally admitted. But it 
must be noted here that the application of these laws 
is not confined to the reproduction of knowledge. It 
is co-extensive with every state, condition and opera- 
tion of the organs of the body and of the powers of 
the mind, whether these states, conditions and opera- 
tions are conscious or unconscious. 

{b). Keeping in mind Note {a), it should be observed 
that the conditions under which a habit is formed con- 
stitute ever afterwards the natural stimuli for its exer- 
cise. Hence the presence of one or more of these 
conditions necessarily tends to produce such exercise. 
This simple but important law of habit is fully verified 
in every person's experience. For example, in the case 
of many, walking is the condition which produces un- 



52 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION, 

conscious swinging of the arms, and talking vigorously, 
unconscious gesticulation. 

(c). The conditions under which a habit can be ac- 
quired may be greatly varied. The habit of graceful 
movements of the body may be acquired in the gym- 
nasium, in the parlor, or under the guidance, example, 
and instruction of the dancing master. Each of these 
sets of conditions may be successfully used for this 
purpose, but it must be noted that the conditions used 
determine very largely the power and influence of the 
habit, when formed, upon the course of life. Suppose 
the habit to be formed under the tuition of the dancing 
master, the natural stimuli, as pointed out in Note (b), 
for the exercise of the habit will then be found in such 
conditions as were supplied by the instructor ; hence, 
in this case, the social and public dance will have a 
powerful influence upon the course of life. 

{ii\ Habits of the mind, with reference to the con- 
ditions under which they are acquired, are subject to 
the same law as habits of the body. To illustrate, take 
the habit of clear and accurate reasoning. This may 
be acquired under very widely different conditions, in- 
deed almost opposite conditions. In the first place, the 
subject matter on which the mind mayw^ork in forming 
the habit may be varied almost indefinitely. Mathe- 
matics pure or applied, physical sciences, language, 
metaphysics, or theology may each in turn, or in com- 
bination, be used for this purpose. In the second place, 
the teacher, the living factor, enters as a prime condi- 
tion. He can vary the use of the subject matter and 



THE FORMATION OF HABITS. 53 

direct and control the work of the pupil at pleasure. 
But this is not all, he cannot be honest and true 
to himself, and do otherwise than introduce his 
own spirit of doing the work, as one of the most 
important conditions, under which his pupils form the 
habit. Now suppose the teacher to be an atheist, a 
deist, an agnostic, or, if not quite as marked a skeptic 
as anyone of these,a practical unbeliever in God and His 
word, then what of the results ? Such a teacher may- 
form in his pupils the habit of clear and accurate rea- 
soning, but this habit must be exercised, ever after, 
subject to tJie law of the conditions under wJiich it zuas 
acquired. The pupil, while acquiring the habit, having 
been studiously exercised upon truth out of proper re- 
lation to the fountain and end of all truth, will, of 
course, in after- Hfe, find pleasure and satisfaction in 
exercising this habit upon everything but what pertains 
to God and spiritual things. 

(e). The law of the influence and power of habits 
illustrated in the foregoing notes is fraught with pecu- 
liar importance in reference to all educational processes. 
If the position enunciated can be fully verified, as we 
believe it can, then our course of Hfe depends quite as 
much upon the way in which our education has been 
conducted as upon the knowledge and habits we may 
acquire. What we will do after our education is com- 
pleted will not always be w4iat we know to be best or 
right or what our habits qualify us to do, but what we 
are disposed to do by the change wrought in us in the 
act of acquiring this knowledge and these habits. 



54 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 



PURE AND ELEVATED TASTES. 

34. The word TASTE is used in several senses, ivhich 
are important to note. The following sJiould be carefully 
discriminated, the one from the other. 

{a). The word denotes the organ of sense by which 
we perceive through contact the savor of any sub- 
stance. The seat of this organ is principally in the 
tongue. 

{b). The word denotes the faculty of the mind by 
which we perceive or appreciate in objects or perform- 
ances of any kind the presence or absence of sym- 
metry, order, beauty, proportion, adaptation or excel- 
lency of whatever sort. 

{c). The word is used to denote the feeling of rel- 
ish and consequent attraction or repulsion which ac- 
companies the exercise, as defined in (a) and {b\ of 
any organ of sense or faculty or receptivity of the 
the mind. 

(d). The word taste is also used to denote the di- 
rective or constructive faculty by which our ideals of 
symmetry, order, beauty, etc., are realized. 

35. The range of our tastes is coextensive ivitk our 
entire being. 

(a). Tastes are natural and acquired. Each human 
being commences life in the possession of certain 
natural or inherited tastes. These natural tastes as- 
sert themselves from the dawn of Hfe onwards. Their 
influence even in infancy is very marked. The child 



PURE AXD ELEVATED TASTES. 55 

of only a few years frequently manifests an extraor- 
dinary taste for a certain line of physical or mental 
activity. Some, for example, show such a taste for 
music, others for drawing, others for natural history, 
others for investigating the why and wherefore of 
everything, others for certain amusements, others for 
certain courses of conduct both good and bad, others, 
in short, for the exercise of some one or more of the 
possible natural activities or receptivities of the body 
and mind. So much for some of the facts in 
regard to natural tastes ; let us now note acquired 
tastes. 

{b). The range of acquired tastes is much greater 
than that of the natural. There is no active or re- 
ceptive power of body or mind in connection with 
which a taste cannot be acquired. The truth of this 
statement is easily verified by experiment. Few, if 
any, have failed to observe how readily tastes of 
every sort are formed. Even states of the body and 
of the mind which at first are very trying and offen- 
sive, may, by persistent effort, become enjoyable and 
finally result in an overmastering taste. The use of 
tobacco is a familiar example of this sort. In most 
cases the first use of it produces very unpleasant ex- 
periences, yet by persistent use these unpleasant ex- 
periences are entirely overcome, and a taste is formed 
so strong that it is almost unconquerable. The law 
illustrated by this example holds true of every active 
and receptive power of the body and mind. The 
continuous exercise of such powers, under proper 



S6 PRINCIPLES OF education: 

conditions, results invariably in forming a relish or 
taste for such exercise. 

36. Our tastes have a powerful infljience in the 
forniatioit of our eharacter, and in determining our 
social eondition and the manner in ivJiieh we perform 
our life zvork. 

{a). Our tastes largely make and unmake us. They 
are the secret springs which, to a great extent, if not 
entirely, shape both our private and public life. But few, 
if any, are fully conscious of the peculiar and subtle 
influence of their tastes in determining their sphere of 
work, the manner in which they perform their work, 
their recreations and amusements, their social and re- 
ligious associations, their companionships, their reading 
and study, their interest in the well-being of others, in 
short, their real character, and their place in the world. 
Say what we will, our likes and dislikes have an untold 
influence in shaping our lives. And what are these likes 
and dislikes but the direct products of our tastes either 
natural or acquired ? 

ib). The powerful influence of taste is felt not only 
among those who give themselves up to degrading 
practices, but also among the most refined and educated 
classes. It is the principal channel through which ex- 
travagances and vices of all sorts are introduced into 
social life and even into literary circles. When the 
tastes, social, literary or otherwise, of any community 
are vitiated, the flood-gates of destructive influences are 
thrown wide open. It is said that *' knowledge is 



PUKE AND ELEVATED TASTES. 5/ 



power." This may be so ; but knowledge is very 
weakness in the presence of natural and acquired 
tastes. The power of knowledge, and even of reason 
and sound judgment, vanishes before the power of our 
tastes like the morning dew before the rising sun. 
Physicians, for example, tell us of the destructive con- 
sequences of the diet so commonly served upon our 
tables, and we may sincerely believe them. But what 
of that, our tastes will have the mastery. They are 
stronger than our knowledge, reason and judgment. 
We will indulge, even although the fatal consequences 
of a wrecked physical constitution stare us in the face, 
or have already been partially experienced 

(c). Taste, as the faculty by which beauty, sym- 
metry, etc., are perceived and appreciated, is the key to 
success in every hne of productive effort. The me- 
chanic, the artist, and the literary man are equally de- 
pendent upon the use of this key. It is, in the first 
place, a powerful incentive to all true effort. But it 
does not stop here. It is the only force which shapes 
and directs the exercise of physical and mental power 
in performing work. It is the inspiration which gives 
perfection of finish alike to the products of the arti- 
san, the artist, the rhetorician, and the poet. With- 
out the existence and exercise of a well- trained taste, 
there can be no master- mechanics, artists, or rhetori- 
cians. It is taste that decorates the palace and trans- 
forms the humble home into a place of comfort, neatness 
and beauty. Taste constitutes the principal factor in de- 
termining our course of life and molding our character. 



58 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

In short, a man never is, and cannot be, an effective 
worker in any sphere of life for which he is not fitted 
by natural or acquired tastes. 

37. It is the imperative duty of parents and teachers 
to provide the right conditions for the formation of 
pure and elevated tastes^ in view of their powerfnl in- 
fluence on life and character. 

{a). The intelligent discharge of this duty makes it 
important to have a clear view of the primary condi- 
tions affecting the formation of tastes, hence the fol- 
lowing suggestions on his subject should be carefully 
noted. Tastes, with reference to their formation, may 
. .i classified as follows : 

(i). Tastes, where there is a constitutional tendency 
towards forming them. 

(2). Tastes, where there is no constitutional tendency 
either towards or against forming them. 

(3). Tastes, where there is a constitutional antago- 
nism to forming them. 

Each of these classes of tastes must, in reference to 
their formation and exercise, be again resolved into two 
classes ; namely. Active Tastes and Passive Tastes. By 
active tastes are meant those tastes whose exercise 
is connected with an active state of the mind or of 
the body. A taste for geometrical reasoning, or for 
scientific investigatioa, is an example of a taste for an 
active state of the mind; and a taste for out- door 
sports, such as bali-playing, for an active state of the 
body. By passive tastes are meant those tastes whose 



PURE AND ELEVATED TASTES, 59 

exercise is connected with a passive state either of the 
mind or of the body. A taste for seclusion or solitude 
is an example of the former, and a taste for the effects 
of a narcotic, such as tobacco, or of an alcoholic stim- 
ulant, such as brandy, is an example of the latter 

{b). Here it should be noted that the real object, in 
every instance, which fascinates, attracts, or for which 
a taste is formed, is a mental or subjective state. This 
subjective state has, however, invariably connected 
with it what may be called an external object. This 
external object is in a certain sense the occasion or 
cause of the subjective state, and hence it is usually 
improperly regarded as the real object of the taste. 
To make this point clear, take the example given 
above of a taste for geometrical reasoning. Here it 
will be observed that the diagrams, symbols, difficul- 
ties, and results constitute the external object whose 
presence is necessary to produce the state of mind for 
which there is such a strong rehsh, fascination or taste. 
It will also be observed that this external object is 
sought and its leadings followed, in the face of great 
difficulties, not for the sake simply of the knowledge 
that may be gained, but because it has in it that 
which produces states of mind that are fascinating. 
These states of mind are the real objects of the relish 
or taste which forces the person on in the study of 
geometry, even in the face of great obstacles and 
privations. The principle illustrated by this example 
applies to passive as well as to active tastes. Nar- 
cotics and alcoholic stimulants are sought, notwith- 



6o PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION: 

Standing their injurious consequences, simply because 
of the taste formed for the mental states which their 
use necessarily produces. 

(c). The external object and the subjective or real ob- 
ject of taste sustain to each other a relation which should 
be carefully noted. In passive tastes this relation is 
peculiar and very marked. Indeed, it is so constant 
that it properly deserves to be called a law. Bearing 
in mind, that a taste as shown in {b), is an attraction 
for a state of mind which yields a certain degree of 
pleasure during its continuance, this law may be stated 
as follows : 

To maintain uniformity in the degree of pleasure 
experienced from a given passive state of rnindy there 
must be at every repetition of this state an increase of 
the quantity or intensity of the exterjial stimuli which 
are the occasiojt or cause of the given state. 

The workings of this law, in passive states which de- 
pend upon stimuli supplied through the body, may be 
illustrated by the use of alcoholic and narcotic stimulants. 
It takes, for example, but a teaspoonful of whiskey, at 
first, to produce a pleasurable state of mind. But 
if the same degree of pleasure is to be produced an 
indefinite number of times, the quantity of whiskey 
taken must be gradually increased. The wineglass-full 
must soon take the place of the teaspoonful. And, 
finally, if the effort to experience the same degree of 
pleasure is to be made even approximately successful, 
spiced whiskey must soon take the place of the pure 
article, as increase of quantity gradually ceases to pro- 



PURE AND ELEVATED TASTES. 6 1 



duce the desired effect. The use of tobacco and other 
narcotics follows the same law. At first a change of 
quantity, as in the case of the alcohol, regulates the 
degree of pleasure, but in the course of time the 
strong cigar and the old saturated pipe are decidedly- 
preferred. 

{d). The principle illustrated by these examples 
holds true also of passive states which are dependent 
for their existence upon stimuli supplied through the 
mind. The printed page and other similar sources fur- 
nish material which is taken directly into the mental 
organism, as readily as whiskey is taken into the physi- 
cal organism. The mind is frequently as effectually 
injured by the indulgence of tastes formed through 
stimuH suppHed in this way as the body by physical 
stimuli. As an example of this, the destructive effects 
upon the mind of a certain kind of light reading, 
which ministers chiefly, if not entirely, to the indul- 
gence of passive states, is only paralleled by the de- 
structive effects of alcohol and narcotics upon the body. 
This is easily verified by reference to the downward 
career of boys and girls who, perhaps under the guid- 
ance of fond mothers, have formed strong tastes for 
passive states by the reading of passional stories in 
Sunday-school books. These stories may, for a time, 
serve the purpose of ministering to the tastes being 
formed ; but, as in the case of the alcohol, the pleas- 
ure they supply must gradually diminish unless the 
stimuli they contain are gradually increased. The 
Sunday-school passional stories must therefore grad- 



62 PRLVCIPLES OF EDUCATION'. 

ually give place to others possessed of stronger pas- 
sional elements. These, in turn, must give way to 
stories spiced with the wild adventures of reckless lives, 
and, finally, these again to stories of the lowest grade, 
spiced with the crimes of even abandoned characters. 

{e). The foregoing illustrations are sufficient to call 
attention to the important nature of the relation, in 
the case of passive states, existing between the external 
and real object of taste. It must, however, be care- 
fully noted that this relation, while making possible, as 
has been pointed out, the most degrading and de- 
structive consequences, makes possible, on the other 
hand, the most elevating and ennobling products of the 
human soul. The highest products of the artisan and 
the artist are alike debtors to this relation. The musi- 
cian, the painter, the sculptor, the poet and the orator 
are aHke inspired by this relation to seek constantly 
higher and yet higher expressions of the external ob- 
jects of taste, that they may supply the conditions which 
produce the higher subjective pleasures which their 
tastes demand. 

(/). It should here be carefully noted that the rela- 
tion of the external object of taste to the subjective ob- 
ject, in active states of mind, differs materially from what 
has been pointed out regarding passive states. In active 
states uniformity in the pleasure experienced, at every 
repetition of them, is maintained without necessarily in- 
creasing the quantity or intensity of the external stim- 
uli. Ball- playing is a famiHar example of this. The 
boy here experiences the same, if not a greater, degree 



PURE AKD ELEVATED TASTES. 63 

of pleasure as he resorts, again and again, to the same 
unchanged round of external conditions, to produce 
the physical activity which is the source of his pleas- 
ure. The principle illustrated by ball-playing holds 
equally true of pleasures experienced from active states 
of mind which are dependent for their existence upon 
external conditions which are the products of mind 
alone. The degree of pleasure, therefore, which ac- 
companies an active state of body or mind, remains 
uniformally the same, or is increased in each repetition 
of the state, so long as the external stimuH are un- 
changed. This is not true, as has been pointed out, of 
passive states. In passive states the degree of pleasure 
diminishes in each repetition unless the quantity or in- 
tensity of the external stimuli is increased. The gen- 
eral principle, therefore, which appears to prevail, in 
reference to the repetition of active and passive states 
of body or of mind, may be briefly stated thus : 

The external conditions and stimuli rcntaining un- 
changed, active states STRENGTHEN and passive states 
WEAKEN by repetition. 

The bearing of this general principle, upon the im- 
portance of rightly directing the pupil in the formation 
of pure and elevated tastes, will be apparent from the 
illustrations given in the foregoing notes. 

{g). In reference to the threefold classification of 
tastes given in (a), the following hints should be care- 
fully noted : 

First. Acquired tastes are invariably the products 
«of the persistent and continued exercise of some 



64 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION, 

activity or passivity of the body or of the mind. The 
exercise by which a taste is formed may be either 
voluntary or compulsory ; hence the classification into 
voliLiitary and compulsory tastes. Voluntary tastes 
originate, usually, in a natural tendency or in a desire 
to gratify an ambition of some sort, or to be fitted to 
accomplish a certain work or end. Compulsory tastes, 
on the other hand, originate invariably in a desire 
to be fitted to accomplish certain ends, or in circum- 
stances over which the person forming them has no 
control. The quality, strength and permanency of 
each taste formed depend upon constitutional tend- 
encies and the conditions under which it has been 
formed. 

Second. Natural tendencies exist towards wrong 
tastes as well as right tastes. In either case, however, 
the law of formation is the same. They are formed, 
and made effective in shaping conduct and character, 
simply by providing a constant supply of the condi- 
tions which will secure the persistent exercise of the 
activity or passivity ot the body or of the mind with 
which each taste stands connected. These conditions 
are remarkably variable. A boy, for example, may 
be forced to form the impure taste of chewing tobacco 
on account of his special companions, social sur- 
roundings, or of some imagined good effect upon an 
ailment with which he is much troubled, etc. These 
conditions are largely, if not entirely, during the pe- 
riods of infancy, childhood and youth, under the 
control of parents and teachers, hence their grea^ 



PURE AND ELEVATED TASTES. 65 

responsibility for the future conduct and character 
of those committed to their care. 

TJih'd. In the case of tastes towards which there is 
no natural tendency, the first thing to be done is to 
create a tendency. This is accomplished by supply- 
ing, in the right way, the conditions that will necessi- 
tate the activity in connection with which the taste is 
to be formed. A taste, for example, for the reading 
of a certain class of books, can readily be created, by 
conditioning the pupil so that he appreciates the ne • 
cessity of such reading, for the accomplishment of cer- 
tain ends which he regards as very desirable. At first 
the reading, in such a case, is performed as a dry 
and unavoidable duty. In time, however, pleasure 
begins to accompany the discharge of the duty, and 
finally, by persistency, a strong taste for the exer- 
cise is developed. This illustrates the course that 
must usually be followed in the formation of tastes of 
this class. Practically, the same course must be pur- 
sued in the formation of tastes to which there is a 
natural antagonism. The variation in the appliances 
that must be adopted to secure the formation of 
tastes of this and the other class will be suggested 
by the special conditions and requirements in each 
case, and by the good judgment and tact of parents 
and teachers. 

Fourth. As in the case of habits there are general 
tastes which necessitate the formation of a certain class 
of special tastes. A strong taste, for example, for 
social enjoyment is one of this kind. Its existence 



66 PRINCIPLES OP EDUCATION. 

necessarily leads to the formation of special tastes to 
which it may be even naturally antagonistic, but 
without which the associations cannot be formed by 
which it can be fully satisfied. A correct and 
full appreciation of this principle is of first impor- 
tance to parents and teachers. Their's is the duty of 
directing in the formation of general tastes which will 
necessitate special tastes \)\3.t are pure and elevating, and 
that will result in the formation of a noble character and 
a consistent and effective life. Among these general 
tastes may be named : A taste for genuine work, physi- 
cal, intellectual, moral and spiritual ; a taste for reading 
standard works, books which require earnest and con- 
tinued study to appreciate fully what they contain; 
and a taste for social enjoyments which minister to a 
pure and symmetrical development of mind, heart and 
body. 

ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE. 

38. The acquisition of knowledge is not the principal 
end to be sought in a true ajid liberal education . 

(a). The truth of this proposition is perhaps theo- 
retically accepted, yet in practice it is almost universally 
denied. This may be easily verified by observing care- 
fully the work done in our schools and colleges and the 
tests applied to show that the work required has been 
performed. The ability to pass examinations for pro- 
motion and honors does not, for example, depend upon 
the fine character the pupils have formed under the 



ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE. 6/ 



guidance of their teachers ; nor upon the acquisition of 
habits and tastes by which the power and knowledge 
acquired can be rightly utilized and made to serve the 
highest good of the pupils themselves and of humanity. 
These are not the qualifications which will secure the 
highest honors in examinations as they are usually con- 
ducted. Not unfrequently do the highest honors go 
to members of classes lacking in all of these qualifica- 
tions, simply because knowledge alone is made the 
basis upon which such honors are bestowed. This is a 
great evil which must be corrected before our schools 
and colleges can yield the best and highest results. 
This correction cannot, however, be made so long as 
teachers and others regard the acquisition of knowledge 
as the principal end of a liberal education. 

ip). A large waste of the pupils' time and energy is 
made in cramming into the memory useless details for 
passing equally useless examinations. Teachers know 
right well that in six months or a year, after these ex- 
aminations have been passed, the details, which cost such 
great effort to acquire, must inevitably disappear from 
the mind. This is particularly true of the endless 
details which pupils are usually compelled to acquire in 
such subjects as arithmetic, grammar, geography, etc. 
The defence for this cramming process, in the face of 
the fact that these details pass so soon from the mind, 
is the mental discipline which the w^ork performed 
affords. This, however, is a great mistake. No such 
mental discipline as is assumed is afforded. The act of 
acquiring knowledge which serves this end must be real 



6B PRINCIPLES OF education; 

and not simply apparent as in this case. It must mean, 
not the cramming of forms and symbols into the 
memory, but the placing of the mind in actual conscious 
relations to existing entities, realities and phenomena. 
It must mean real personal experiences of what is, and 
not merely of the forms and symbolism, which serve 
only to call what is into consciousness. This, hov/ever, 
is not always required to pass successfully, what appear 
to be, very formidable examinations. These can be 
passed by simply fixing in the memory, for the time 
being, what some text-book or lecturer has said upon 
the subject. Questions pertaining to the most profound 
problems in science, philosophy and language may thus 
be apparently answered, while the persons giving the 
answers may have failed, in any true sense, to construe 
in consciousness the realities which enter into, and con- 
stitute the very essence of these problems. This con- 
dition of things grows largely out of the wrong con- 
ception, which commonly prevails, in regard to the true 
nature of knowledge and of the function of words. 

39. ^ knozvledge of words as mere sounds or written 
forms is in no sense a knozvledge of the realities which 
they are intended to represent. 

(a). Knowledge involves three things : a being who 
knows, an object known, and a conscioicsness of a 
determijiate relation between the being and the object. 
The consciousness of this determinate relation consti- 
tutes what may be called subjective knowledge. The 
word knowledge, it must here be noted, is also used in 



ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE. 6^ 

an objective sonse to denote conscious experiences 
which have been associated with words or other symbols 
by which they are recalled, at any time, into present 
consciousness. Knowledge in this sense can be pre- 
served for future use in the form of books and other 
records. These books and records are, however, 
available only to persons who have experienced the 
elementary consciousnesses represented by the words. 

(d). It must here be observed that words are, in a 
strict sense, simply representative in their use. They 
serve only as the means of recalling into consciousness 
experiences with which they were associated in a former 
act of consciousness. An apparent exception to this 
statement must be carefully noted. The sound or writ- 
ten form which is called a word,*in any language, may 
itself be the object known in an act of knowledge. In 
this case the sound or written form ceases to be a word, 
and is simply an object of knowledge, in the same sense 
as any other sound or drawing can be, or even a tree 
or article of furniture. The sole object of consciousness 
here is the sound or written form. No knowledge is 
acquired, in any sense, of the object which the sound or 
written form represents when used as a word. What 
is true of words, in this respect, is equally true of sen- 
tences, paragraphs, and entire discourses. A person, 
for example, having no knowledge whatever of the 
representative power of Latin words, may fix in the 
memory Latin sentences, paragraphs and discourses 
just as well as words. The former may require a httle 
more effort than the latter, but it can be readily done. 



70 pi^rNcrrLES of educatioi^. 

When done, however, just as in the ease of the single 
word, the only object of consciousness or knowledge, 
before the mind, is simply the combinations of sounds 
or characters fixed in the memory. 

(c). It will further be observed from the position 
stated in Notes (a) and (b) that no new knowledge can 
be communicated by the use of words only, except in 
the sense of new combinations of the knowledge ac- 
quired from the objects, entities or realities of which 
the mind has already been conscious. The correctness 
of this view is evident from the office of words. As 
already suggested, whether spoken or written, they are 
only signs which serve to recall into consciousness a 
certain number of ideas, objective realities or experi- 
ences which by common consent or otherwise have been 
associated with them, during the period in which they 
have been used. Words, therefore, perform their legit- 
imate function when they serve simply as signs to call 
into consciousness one or more of the realities with 
which they have been thus associated. A correct and 
complete knowledge, also, of the meaning of a word 
consists in a clear apprehension of all of the actual 
realities which it has served at any time to call into 
human consciousness. The study of the meaning of 
words, therefore, as such, properly conducted, consists 
in tracing and experiencing the actual consciousness 
of which they are now or have been at any time 
signs. 

40. The educational process^ rightly conducted^ will 



ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE. ?'! 

invariably give to the pupil possession of systematized 
kjtowledge. 

(a). The expression systematized knoivledge is used 
in this proposition in two senses, which must be care- 
fully noted. It is used, first, to denote the knowledge 
which the pupil himself has traced back to the general 
truths and principles on which it rests, and which, 
after doing this, he has arranged in orderly form and 
fixed permanently in his mind. This may be desig- 
nated scientific knowledge^ whether it pertains to lan- 
guage, philosophy, theology, science or art. The ex- 
pression, in the second place, is used to denote the 
knowledge of the productive or causative relation of 
things which the pupil discovers in pursuing his other 
work, and which he arranges also in orderly form and 
utilizes for practical ends. This may be designated 
working knowledge. The method by which the re- 
sult, included in both of these senses, is reached will 
be noted under the head of Principles of Pupils 
Work. 

{b). The first meaning noted in {a) applies to all 
of the pupil's work. Systematized knowledge in this 
sense is always the product of well-directed efforts 
upon the part of the pupil. In order, however, that 
these efforts may secure the best results, he must be 
allowed, in every subject, to work with what may be 
called raw material. It is in the act of analyzing and 
reducing to order and system this raw material that 
true mental discipline is acquired. Where this kind 
of work is not done it is impossible to secure the high- 



72 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

est order of results in this respect In this work there 
are two steps which must be noted. A subject may- 
be carefully analyzed and each truth of which it is 
composed discovered, clearly defined, and assigned its 
proper place in the system of truths of which it is one. 
This is the first step towards acquiring systematized 
knowledge, and it is a very important step, but, taken 
alone, incomplete. It agrees, in a marked way, with 
digestion, or the first step in preparing food for the 
nourishment and development of the body. In the 
case of the body, digestion may be completed, but 
physical development is not secured until the matter 
thus made ready is distributed and disappears in the 
living organism through the action of assimilation. 
In like manner new truths may be analyzed and clearly 
apprehended, but until, by a similar process of assimi- 
lation, they are united to the body of truth already in 
possession of the mind, and have thus taken their proper 
place in connection with the mental organism, they 
fail to yield to the pupil their true and highest bene- 
fit. The process by which this is accomplished is 
the second step in acquiring systematized knowledge 
covered by the first meaning noted in {a). 

(c). The second meaning noted in (a) has reference 
to a knowledge of the relations between means and 
end, cause and effect, etc., and the right use of these 
in the economy of life. A pupil may master a subject 
thoroughly as a system of connected truths, and yet 
fail signally in being able to utilize, in a practical way, 
the truths he has thus mastered. This failure, how- 



PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT. 73 



ever, does not imply that the pupil has not gained a 
clear and perhaps exhaustive knowledge of the sub- 
ject, regarded simply as a system of related truths. 
Instances, in proof of this, can be given without num- 
ber. A pupil, for example, may acquire such a 
knowledge of the elements of geometry. He may be 
able, in this way, to pass a rigid examination on the 
entire subject, of the sort which calls for nothing be- 
yond the truths and principles involved in a series of 
logical demonstrations, and yet he may fail largely, if 
not entirely, in utilizing these truths and principles, in 
a productive way, as means to an end. 

{d). The nature and extent of the systematized 
knowledge the pupil should acquire, during each 
period of the educational process, will be outlined 
under the head of Principles of Pupils Work. 



PERIODS OF DL7EL0PMENT. 



In the following outline, of the three natural periods 
of human development, attention is called only to the 
more important facts which affect the course that 
should be pursued by parents, teachers and others 
intrusted with the education of the young. These 
facts, however, if carefully noted, will greatly assist 
in making clear the principles and laws of physical 
and mental development already outlined and which 
will be hereafter presented. 



f4 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

PERIOD OF INFANCY. 

This period extends from birth to about the end of 
the seventh year, and is marked by the peculiar con- 
ditions and changes set forth in the following propo- 
sitions : — 

41. The infant commences the solution of the prob- 
lem of life with a body and mijtd inherited from his 
parettts. 

(a). Each infant commences life with a physical 
constitution inherited from his parents. This con- 
stitution, and this alone, must be the starting-point 
of all physical growth. Hence this must determine 
and regulate, in the first place, the conditions, in- 
cluding the supply of food, with which the infant 
should be provided, through the agency of the parent 
and teacher, to produce a healthy and vigorous phys- 
ical organism. 

{b). It is now generally conceded by the best 
authorities that the infant inherits from his parents a 
wide range of aptitudes. At birth he is in possession 
of a definite individuality which distinguishes him 
from all other children. This individuality includes 
physical powers which necessarily develop a body con- 
taining the characteristic features of one or both 
parents. It also includes physical and mental powers 
and aptitudes, which as surely as in the case of the 
features of the face, when unrestrained, will manifest 
mental power and produce a course of action contain- 



PERIOD OF INFANCY. 7S 



ing the characteristic power and actions of one or 
both parents. 

(c). The infant commences hfe with an extremely 
plastic nature, capable of being molded and directed 
almost as the parent or teacher may choose. This 
condition of things makes it possible to remove, largely, 
constitutional or inherited deformities, and to trans- 
form, if not to annihilate entirely, powers and apti- 
tudes which, if left unchanged, would develop into a 
defective if not vicious character. 

42. During the first four years of the period of 
infancy, the child is dependent entirely npon the parcftts 
for his objective surroundings and treatment ; hence 
the followiJig duties are imperative upon the par- 
ents : 

{a\ The parent should furnish proper physical con- 
ditions for the healthy growth of the child's body. 
These conditions include at least the following: A 
proper supply, at right intervals of time, of nutritious 
food ; an abundant supply of pure air ; the free ap- 
plication of pure water upon every part of the body ; 
clothing of the right kind to protect every part of 
the body from injurious exposure, and which admits 
a free and healthful exercise of all its organs ; con- 
stant and judicious outdoor exercises, in which the 
feet, the hands and other organs are actively used; 
and plenty of undisturbed rest and sleep. These 
conditions should be carefully supplied throughout the 
growing period of the child's life. But the absence of 



7^ PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

them during infancy, and especially the first four years, 
results in greater evil than at any other time. 

{p). The parent should furnish proper conditions for 
mental growth. These conditions include at least the 
following : Such contact with natural and artificial ob- 
jects as will produce a healthful activity of all the 
senses ; such help, in the form of example, as will lead 
the child to use words correctly in expressing his own 
actual experiences ; such exercise and guidance as will 
enable him to form the habit of using his feet, his hands, 
his mouth, and other organs of the body in a proper man- 
ner ; and such precepts and examples also as will cause 
him to exercise constantly his moral and spiritual 
nature. 

43. Diirmg the period of i7tfancy the peculiar process 
of physical and mental growth that is going on demands 
special care in the treatment of the child. 

(a). About the end of the seventh year the brain 
reaches nearly its full size, while the other organs of 
the body have little more than commenced their 
growth. The imperfect condition of the brain during 
this period, coupled with its rapid growth, unfits it for 
continuous work. In thi^ connection it should be care- 
fully noted that all physical as well as mental activity 
is the direct product of brain- work. Hence, to save the 
brain from overwork, the greatest care must be taken 
to guard the child against undue physical as well as 
mental activity. 

{b). Physical activity is the natural and necessary 



PERIOD OF INFANCY. yj 

product of the growing process going on in the body, 
coupled with the endless variety of new experiences 
which contact with the external world brings to the 
child. Hence any course of treatment of the child, 
either in or out of the school which prevents un- 
duly this activity, subverts a necessary condition 
of growth which will prove fatal to the natural 
and successful development of the body and of the 
mind. It is, therefore, clearly the duty of both parents 
and teachers to guide, not to prevent, this activity. 

44. The period of infancy is marked by certain 
characteristics which shoidd determine the course of the 
parents and teacher in training the body and mind. 

These characteristics include the following: 

(a). The judgment, reason, will, or conscience plays 
but a very small part in controlling the child's actions. 
The activity, therefore, of the senses, and consequently 
of the mind, is the product of a condition of the sen- 
sory organs which may properly be called hunger. 
Sense-food is demanded, and must be had without 
much regard to kind or quantity. The child pursues 
in this the same reckless and indiscriminate course as 
he does in supplying the demands of the stomach. 
Hence the parent and teacher must guide this intense 
sense-hunger, and furnish the proper conditions and 
surroundings for its healthful exercise and develop- 
ment. 

(U), Inquisitiveness lies at the root of all mental 
activity. This powerful inherent tendency of our nature 



78 PRTNCrPLES OF EDUCATION: 

manifests itself in two forms : firsts in constantly asking 
the question, What is it ? and second, in pressing the 
question, Why is it as it is ? The first is a demand 
for knowledge ; the second, for the principles and rea- 
sons of things. The child's inquisitiveness is almost 
exclusively of the first form, and is the natural 
product of the sense-hunger before mentioned. Unless 
this is blunted by unnatural treatment, he will insist 
upon knowing everything just as it is. He will con- 
tinue to look at, to taste, to smell, to handle the objects 
that come within his reach, until they cease to yield 
him any more new sense-food. Then he will show the 
same restlessness and uneasiness which accompany 
the lack of a proper supply of food for the stomach. 

(c). The child's actions are aimless in the sense of 
not containing any plot or plan which reaches beyond 
what is now and here. In short, they are aimless in 
the singleness of their aim. The child literally com- 
plies with the precept, '' Take no thought for the mor- 
row," hence the singleness and intensity of his activi- 
ties. He loses himself entirely in what is now and 
here. If, for example, he is crying, he is all crying; 
if playing, he is all playing. This characteristic of 
child-nature, properly utilized by parents and teachers, 
acts as one of the most powerful elements in forming 
a simple, pure and strong character. 

(d): Simple credulity is a natural condition of infant 
life. Everything is to the child what it appears to be. 
He is not disposed to doubt his senses, nor does he 
take any account of the endless variety of conditions 



PERIOD OF INFANCY. 79 



that may give a false coloring to what is present to the 
sense or mind. Also, in making his own experience 
the measure by which he judges others, he necessarily 
takes for granted that the statements and reports of his 
seniors, of experiences that he beyond his, are of the same 
truthful character as his own. Hence he accepts of them 
without any questioning, until, as he grows older, he 
establishes by unpleasant experiences their untruthful- 
ness. When he reaches this conclusion, a new condi- 
tion of things breaks in upon him, and he gradually 
commences to doubt almost everything that has not 
been tested by himself This process has its beginning 
in the period of infancy, is intensified in childhood, and 
reaches its worst form in youth. In view of the natural 
consequences of the abuse of this characteristic of 
infant- nature, it should be a fixed principle of both 
parents and teachers never under any circumstances to 
deceive a child. 

{e). During this period each organ of the body is in 
the most plastic state. Coupled with this, there is in- 
tense physical activity and absolute singleness of aim. 
All the physical and mental power of the child is 
present in every separate course of action in which he 
engages. Hence the readiness with which his activities 
can be transformed into habits. The importance of 
this characteristic of infant-nature cannot be over- 
estimated. It is capable of being used for evil as well 
as for good. This is illustrated in the formation of 
what are known as loafing habits, including the awk- 
ward use of feet and hands and other organs of the 



80 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

body. But it is especially illustrated in the formation 
of habits of disobedience to parents and others having 
rightful authority, and of disrespect of law and of the 
just claims of superiors in age and in experience. Habits 
of this kind are largely formed during the period of 
infancy. Hence at this time neither parent nor teacher 
should fail to give proper attention to this element of 
the child's nature. 

PERIOD OF CHILDHOOD. 

This period commences about the seventh year of 
the child's life, and ends between the twelfth and 
sixteenth. Surroundings, climate, health, and other 
causes produce an unnaturally rapid development of the 
body and mind, and hence children pass from the sec- 
ond to the third period at different times between the 
ages named. An early change from the second to the 
third period is not desirable. The longer the spirit 
and simphcity of childhood continues, unimpaired by a 
vigorous activity of body and mind, the greater the 
promise of a strong and vigorous manhood and wo- 
manhood. 

The following propositions suggest questions de- 
manding the attention of parents and teachers during 
this period. 

45. The brainy sensory organs y and mechanical or- 
gans have reached a degree of vtaturity which de- 
mands a wider range of sports or physical exercises 
than during infancy. 



PERIOD OF CHILDHOOD. ^I 



U). An increase of physical energy is a necessar> 
product of the process of healthful g^-th. Th.s en- 
'ercxy during childhood increases more rapidly than it 
can be used in the ordinary activity of the body hence 
the demand for an outlet. Play or sport is the only 
natural outlet. Work can in no way be niade a 
substitute. This is evident from the very nature of 
play and work. In play the primary end sought s 
the pleasure or enjoyment present in the very acts 
performed, while in work the primary end sought is 
always a useful result outside of the acts performed 
In work the present experience may be pleasant or 
painful. The activity is continued, not as m play be- 
cause of present physical enjoyment, but because o 
the influence of some outside power, and hence js not 
the natural demand of the growing orgamsm._ Then, 
again, surplus physical energy is generated in every 
organ of the body; but work, from the very nature of 
the case, affords an outlet only for the energy generated 
in certain mechanical organs, such as the foot the 
hand, etc., and hence in the formative condition of the 
body tends, unless carefully guarded, to destroy the 
symmetrical development of its organs. _ 

(b) The natural discharge of surplus physical energy 
is always accompanied by present pleasurable sensa- 
tions This discharge takes place only through the 
exerdse of the organs in which the energy is gen- 
erated ; hence the necessity of the endless variety of 
activit; characteristic of the child. He runs, walks, 
jumps; rolls, tumbles, twists the body into all possible 



82 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION'. 

shapes, talks, laughs, shouts, and makes all kinds of 
noises; in short, if left to himself and surrounded by- 
proper conditions, he discharges surplus physical en- 
ergy at every pore of the body. This is the neces- 
sary accompaniment of a healthful physical growth. 
Hence, any system of education, which does not make 
proper provision for the natural discharge of physical 
energy, can never build up strong and symmetrical 
men and women. 

(c). The nature and character of sports change with 
the growth of the body and mind. During infancy 
and a large portion of childhood, the pleasurable sen- 
sations accompanying the discharge of physical energy 
is almost the child's sole reason for engaging in sports. 
Hence the same sport or the same round of move- 
ments continues to be repeated consecutively, until, 
through the exhaustion of surplus energy, this pleas- 
urable sensation ceases to be produced. It only re- 
quires, however, a short time to restore this exhausted 
energy ; hence the child returns again to the same 
sport with as much zest as before. The fact that the 
physical energy generated in the various organs of the 
child's body is quickly exhausted and as quickly re- 
stored, is the reason of the peculiar delight which he 
takes in a rapid succession of different sports which 
call into exercise constantly new combinations of his 
organs. In this connection it should be observed that, 
as the mental powers of the child commence to con- 
trol his action — as he commences to feel an ambition 
to excel — his sports become more complex and con- 



PERIOD OF CHILDHOOD. 83 



tinuous, and less of the nature of pure, spontaneous, 
physical exercise, and less productive of real good 
to the child. Indeed, purely ambitious considerations 
may control to such an extent as to convert what 
may be called a sport into an exhaustive and injurious 
work. 

(d). No physical exercises are productive of such 
healthful results as those which are spontaneous and 
free from all constraint. Hence, plays and sports 
conducted in a well-regulated playground rank first 
among physical exercises. '' Order in confusion," and 
proper regard to the rights of the weak and the 
strong, should be the only requirements of such a 
playground. No scheme of regulating the sports 
should be adopted that will deprive the children of 
the delightful experiences consequent only upon a free 
and spontaneous activity of the organs of the body. 
It is very clear, however, that every school is not, 
and perhaps cannot be, provided with proper accom- 
modations for outdoor sports; hence resort must be 
had to calisthenic exercises as the next best thing that 
can be done. For disciplinary purposes, and to pro- 
mote graceful movements of the body and the develop- 
ment of special organs, calisthenic exercises have a 
decided advantage over the other. Yet they fail to in- 
fuse into the body and mind that vitahzing and health- 
ful power which results from free exercise in the open 
air ; hence calisthenics should always have, where the 
other is possible, the second place in the physical 
exercises connected with a school. 



B4 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

46. The child, during this period^ associates indis- 
criminately with other children of his ozvn age, and 
is easily affected by their language, actions and habits. 

{a). The distinction of sex has but slight influence 
in determining the child's associates during this period. 
The same natural impulses regulate the general con- 
duct of both boys and girls. The natural promptings 
and attractions of their physical natures are the same. 
Hence they enjoy, unless warped by conditions im- 
posed by the parents, the same plays and sports. 
These plays and sports bring to both the same intense 
pleasure. This state of things should not be disturbed 
by artificial requirements imposed in obedience to the 
supposed demands of society. In this period of child- 
life, boys and girls should be allowed the same free- 
dom of outdoor sports, and should, under proper re- 
strictions, mingle freely with each other. 

(b). If left to his own natural impulses, the influence 
of occupation, position, or rank in life,' and so on, is 
almost entirely disregarded by the child in choosing 
his associates. Pleasure or enjoyment is the chief 
thing sought in his companions, and this pleasure 
comes to him during this period chiefly through the 
exercise of his physical organs. Hence he selects as 
his associates, without much regard to anything else, 
those who can minister most freely to this exercise. 
If he enjoys special field sports, his companions will 
be such as can contribute most to this enjoyment. 
It matters little what they are socially or morally ; 
the boys from the lowest stratum of society are valued 



PERIOD OF CHILDHOOD. ^5 



as companions in those field sports just as much as 
those from a higher plane. This natural forgetfulness 
of all social distinctions accompanied with the strong 
tendency to form habits, is one of the most powerful 
elements for good or evil in child-nature. Properly 
directed, it will build up a broad and noble manhood, 
which will always exercise sympathy for all classes and 
conditions of men. But if left unguided, it usually, 
as society is now constituted, leads the child into wrong 
courses of action, and fixes upon him habits which 
affect injuriously his whole life. Hence the impor- 
tance upon the part of parents and teachers of a care- 
ful study of this phase of child-life. Hence, also, the 
importance of the most earnest effort to surround the 
child with such conditions as will rightly guide him 
in his necessary associations with other children, and 
in the choice of his companions. 

47. During this period the activity of the senses 
continues, and is accompanied by the development of 
reflection, and hence of the simplest form of reasoning 
and of search for the causes of material and immaterial 
phenomena. 

{a). The child touches, tastes, smells and handles 
everything that comes within his reach, and he cannot 
do otherwise if he follows the impulses of his nature. 
These natural impulses should not be put under chains. 
The child should be left free, and indeed encouraged 
to apply all his senses in examining into the nature ot 
his surroundings. To do otherwise is to crush out of 



86 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

him what God designed as one of the most important 
elements of a strong intellectual and moral nature. 
There is but one course in this matter. The senses 
should be gratified, and their exercises guided in such 
a manner as to form the power and habit of making 
accurate observations. This cannot be done either by 
leaving the child free to use all his senses indiscriminate- 
ly as chance may direct, or by cramping him at once 
into a scientific mold where the most orderly use is 
made of each sense. The power and habit of using 
the senses accurately is a growth — is the product of a 
gradual and natural transformation of the inherent 
sense-hunger in a child — is a necessary working force. 
The simple duty, then, of both parents and teachers, is 
to supply the necessary conditions to produce this 
transformation. 

{b). Reasoning, reflection and search for the causes 
of things, in their simplest forms, commence with the 
very first dawn of intelligence ; but during infancy the 
imperfect condition of the brain and nervous system, 
and the strong demand made upon this imperfect 
organism by the process of growth, and by the end- 
less variety of new objects presented to the senses, 
excludes the possibility of reasoning and reflection 
proper. During infancy, however, the child usually 
exhausts the enjoyment afforded by simple sports 
and by the simple use of his senses upon surround- 
ing objects. Hence, in order to have new enjoy- 
ments, he is naturally compelled to form new com- 
binations in his sports, and to seek new objects on 



PERIOD OF CHILDHOOD. 87 

which to exercise his senses. This condition of things, 
therefore, makes a demand for a higher order of 
reasoning and reflection than was necessary during 
infancy. In this connection it should be carefully 
noted that the process of reasoning and reflection 
belonging to childhood is of a concrete nature, 
and pertains to such subjects and principles as can be 
illustrated or demonstrated objectively. Hence the 
course of study during childhood should be confined 
to what is concrete and experimental. 

48. The child lives in the present ; his actions are 
almost entirely the products of present attractions and 
repulsions y of present simple convictions of right and 
wrong, or of habits already formed. 

(a). The attractions and repulsions which control 
the child's actions during infancy and the earlier part 
of childhood pertain largely to the senses. What 
gives sentient pleasure or pain usually decides the 
course of action. Hence, the system of rewards and 
punishments so commonly adopted in controlling the 
child's will. Intellectual attractions and repulsions 
gradually rise into prominence. As the child enters 
the period of youth, they have a strong influence upon 
his actions. His volitions gradually become more the 
products of reason and forethought. His convictions 
of right and wrong, however, continue to be largely 
the products of simple principles, wrought into his 
mind by his parents and teachers during infancy and 
childhood. When a demand for action is made upon 



S8 PRINCIPLES OF education: 

him, these principles rise into consciousness and de- 
termine the course to be pursued. 

{b). All motives which influence the will are states 
of consciousness — such as emotions, feeUngs and per- 
ceptions of utility, propriety, right and wrong, and so 
on — which are present at the time the will is to be 
exercised. These states of consciousness may be either 
the products of our immediate present surroundings 
and hence transitory, or they may be the products 
of past experiences, principles or habits, which have 
been wrought into our nature and remain permanently 
with us, and which are called into consciousness by 
present surroundings. In the former case, the course 
of conduct is literally the creature of present sur- 
roundings; in the latter, however, present surround- 
ings have but httle to do in determining the course 
of conduct. 

49. The child's course of conduct in after-life, his 
character and moral strength, depend very largely upon 
the m.ethod of control adopted by his parents and teach- 
ers during infancy and childhood. 

(a). This proposition necessarily follows from the 
position stated in 48 {b). The boy who has been 
controlled by present enjoyments, supplied by an in- 
dulgent parent or teacher, becomes strangely changed 
in his conduct when he passes into less favorable sur- 
roundings. The amiable and well-behaved boy in the 
mother's sitting-room or in the teacher's class-room, 
becomes all at once unreliable and vicious. This is 



PERIOD OF YOUTH. 89 

almost the invariable product of that method of gov- 
erning children which controls them by simply sup- 
plying present gratification. 

{b). The position stated in 48 (b) points to an- 
other method of control. Present enjoyment should 
not be ignored, yet it should be made simply a means 
to an end. While ministering to the child's enjoy- 
ment, it is the imperative duty of both parent and 
teacher to see that true principles of action and cor- 
rect habits are wrought into his being. These he 
wiM carry with him as a permanent possession, and 
they will determine his course of conduct when he 
ceases to be under the influence of pleasant surround- 
ings supplied by the kind hand of another. 

PERIOD OF YOUTH. 

This period commences between the ages of twelve 
and sixteen, and ends between the ages of twenty 
and twenty-five. The chief points which demand the 
special attention of parents and teachers are set forth 
in the following propositions : 

50. The body at the beginning of this period is in a 
transition state^ and demands special attention in order 
to prevent mistakes which may result in permanent 
injury. 

(a). New experiences growing out of physical 
changes make their appearance at the beginning of 
this period. These experiences in their nature are ex-. 



go PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

citing and taxing upon the nervous energies. They 
are also accompanied by a strong natural tendency to 
sacrifice largely the other vital interests of the body 
in order that they may be enjoyed. Hence, at this 
particular stage of development, there is great danger 
of fatal injury to the body growing out of the viola- 
tion of simple physiological laws. 

{h). A large share of the ruinous practices which 
prevail during this period is the result of ignorance of 
the fatal consequences accompanying these practices 
and of the proper treatment of the body. It is, 
therefore, the imperative duty of parents, and in case 
they fail to do the work, then of teachers, to give, at 
the proper time and under proper restrictions, such in- 
structions as will make plain the evils to be avoided, 
and as will impart strength and determination to avoid 
them. Recourse in this matter should be had to the 
instructions given upon the subject in standard authori- 
ties on physiology and hygiene. 

(c). All concede that the condition of the body affects 
directly the experiences of the mind. When a man is 
**blue," it is usually safe to conclude that his digestive 
organs are somewhat out of order. It is no more true 
that the body affects the mind than that the conditions 
and states of the mind affect the body. The feehngs 
and passions react upon the body and induce courses 
of conduct which bring upon it disease and ruin. 
Here it should be carefully noted that physical debility 
or disease as a reaction from the mind is the result of 
passive, not active, states of mind — is the result of an 



PERIOD OF YOUTH, 91 

over-exercise of the feelings, the emotions, the passions, 
and not of the intellect, the reason, the judgment. By 
keeping the feelings and the emotions nearly inactive, 
a boy or girl between the ages of fifteen and twenty- 
five can perform, without the slightest injury to the 
body, far more of what may be called purely intellectual 
work than is now usually performed in any of our 
schools. 

51. During tins period all the products of the in- 
tellectual nature^ including the reasoning power, jndg^ 
menty etc.y carry zvith tJieni the authority of in- 
tuitions. 

{a). Sense-products absorb largely the attention 
during infancy and childhood. Accompanying this 
condition of things, a gradual transformation is going 
on. The mind is becoming more and more interested 
in simple inferences that follow readily from the sense- 
perceptions acquired. As a result, at the beginning 
of the third period simple processes of reasoning, such 
as each mind is prepared for, become more intensely 
absorbing than even sense-products. Facts already 
acquired are now assuming a new interest, and are 
again looked over and compared, and conclusions 
reached which were no part of the original percep- 
tions. These conclusions are simple and direct, and 
hence are necessarily as real to the mind as the proposi- 
tions themselves. Consequently they carry with them 
the same positive authority as the perceptions. 

(b). As a necessary consequence of the transforma- 



92 PRINCirLES OF EDUCATION; 

tion named in {a), a marked characteristic of youth is 
developed ; namely, the habit of drawing conclusions 
from insufficient premises. This habit is the natural 
result of the direct method of making inferences prac- 
tised in infancy and childhood. So strong does it be- 
come before commencing a course of training where 
rigid demonstrations are required, that the mind refuses 
to recognize as necessary the series of steps on which a 
conclusion is based. The conclusion is perceived, and 
in a certain sense as a conclusion, without taking into 
account in logical order the premises on which it rests. 
This condition of things is the reason why so many 
bright children, possessed of marked perceptive powers, 
strongly disHke the demonstrative sciences. If, how- 
ever, such children are properly guided by their 
teachers, they will very soon become intensely inter- 
ested in the examination of data and premises for the 
purpose of determining whether the conclusions drawn 
are legitimate and in accordance with the truth of 
things. 

(c). Other very important characteristics of youth 
have their origin in the condition of things stated in 
the above proposition. For example, boys and girls 
during this period are naturally skeptical, conceited, and 
positive even to obstinacy. They think they know 
things just as they are, and that there is little to be 
known outside of what they have examined. This is 
a legitimate consequence of the peculiarly new and 
authoritative nature of their present intellectual prod- 
ucts. The child's perceptions of the objective world 



PERIOD OF YOUTH. 93 

are intensely real to him. He entertains no doubts re- 
garding them. He looks with astonishment at any one 
who would call in question these perceptions. In this 
peculiar sense the child may be said to be very skeptical. 
In this third period a similar condition of things prevails 
regarding the perceptions of the reasoning powers. 
These perceptions are also new and authoritative, and 
contain to the young mind just about the whole truth. 
Hence, as in the case of the child, grave doubts, which 
assume frequently the form of conceit and obstinacy, 
are entertained of anything that seems to contradict 
this authoritative experience. Young men and young 
women in this good sense are skeptical, conceited, and 
even obstinate ; but this skepticism, conceit, and ob- 
stinacy, properly directed and controlled by competent 
teachers, become most desirable qualities in building a 
strong and vigorous manhood and womanhood. 

52. TJie social nature at the beginning of this 
period commences to assert control, and hence demands 
the special attention of parents and teachers. 

(a). During infancy and childhood the element of 
sex has played but a small part in the social inter- 
course of boys and girls. They have thus far asso- 
ciated together in sports and common enjoyments. 
They have formed attachments growing out of these 
associations. Now, however, another and more subtle 
element than sports and common enjoyments de- 
termines the attachments formed. Now to the boy the 
society of girls is becoming more attractive than that 



94 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

of boys, and to the girl the society of boys than that 
of girls. This condition of things is in the order of 
nature. The evident duty, therefore, of parents and 
teachers is to direct and control, not to crush, this in- 
herent and refining natural tendency of our being. 

(p). The emotional nature and the imagination play 
a very important part in shaping the social relations 
and the general course of conduct of this period. It 
is a common saying — " boys and girls are impulsive." 
We mean by this that they act from their feelings 
rather than from the dictates of their reason and judg- 
ment. In this connection it should be carefully noted 
that the emotional nature is exceedingly inventive, and 
that this inventive power is in some degree universal. 
There are comparatively few, who, in matters requiring 
the exercise of pure intellect, are inventive ; yet every 
one, in matters pertaining to the feelings, possesses this 
power. This is particularly true between the ages of 
fifteen and twenty- five. Hence the endless variety of 
devices by which young people are able to carry out 
the demands of the feehngs and of the heart ; hence, 
also, the importance of supplying the proper social 
conditions for the exercise and training of this power. 

{c). An over-exercise of the social nature, which 
draws so largely upon the feelings or emotions, is pro- 
ductive of great injury both to the body and to the 
mind. The effect of such a course upon the body has 
already been pointed out in 50 (c), A similar effect is 
produced upon the mind by such a course. Rugged 
and clear thinking, even in the case of what may be 



PERIOD OF YOUTH, 95 



called strong and matured minds, soon becomes impos- 
sible if the emotional nature is overtaxed. The intel- 
lectual vigor of boys and girls is not unfrequently 
undermined by indulgences in social life and by the 
reading of sensational books, both of which make a 
strong draft upon the feelings. Under such conditions 
they soon reach a point where they spend a large 
share of their time in a dreamy passive state. They 
lose all desire for positive, active, vigorous mental 
work. This is only one of the many evil results of 
over-indulgence of the social nature, so commonly 
permitted and even encouraged by parents of the 
present time. There is a golden mean in this matter, 
and parents and teachers should not fail to adopt it, as 
either extreme is productive of great injury. 

53. The development and training of the moral na- 
ture should receive the first attention of parents and 
teachers during each of these three periods. Under 
pivper guidance all the activities of the intellectual 
nattire may gradually be subordinatedy as they ought to 
be, to the control of the conscience and will. 

(a). The conscience is as susceptible of education as 
any other power of the mind. Its development runs 
parallel with the development of the intellectual powers. 
It manifests itself in infancy in enforcing obedience to 
the simple laws of nature learned through experience. 
The ought to be and ougJit not to be enters very 
early into the child's consciousness. Indeed, it accom- 
panies every experience he passes through where he 



96 PRTNCTPLES OF EDUCATION'. 

knows that one of two courses would avoid pain or 
suffering. A mistake is very commonly made regard- 
ing the province of the conscience. It is practically 
restricted by many in its operations to what is known 
as the spiritual part of our being. Conscience to such 
has nothing to do with the ordinary exercise of the 
functions of the body. This is a great mistake, and 
leads to fatal results in the training of the infant and 
child. The decisions of the conscience are coexten- 
sive with the work of our entire being. They alone 
settle authoritatively wheiiy where, how and for zvJiat 
purpose each function of the body and each power of 
the mind ought to be exercised. 

{b). The development and training of the conscience 
is usually sadly neglected. From infancy up to man- 
hood, in all matters pertaining to the intellect, every 
encouragement is given to independent action, and 
the results and decisions reached are respected. It is 
assumed in this case that there is an inherent power 
in the child to see things as they are that can be 
trusted. And because of this assumption, such work 
and exercises are intrusted to the child as develop 
and train his intellectual powers in a proper manner. 
The opposite of this course is pursued with the con- 
science. From infancy up, the child is treated as if 
he had no spiritual eye, by which to see the ought 
to be and the ougJit not to be. His parents and his 
teacher's spiritual eyes are supposed to do all the 
seeing where the *' ought to be " and the '' ought not 
to be " are to be considered. He is expected, simply, 



PERIOD OF YOUTH. 97 

machine like, to execute orders without any regard 
even to the existence of his conscience. Such a course, 
and it is a very common one, soon dwarfs and warps 
the conscience so that its authority is Httle felt or re- 
garded. 

(c). The proper development of the moral nature 
demands that the conscience should be constantly 
called into exercise. Commencing with infancy, the 
child should be guided so that he will acquire the 
habit of considering always before doing a thing, 
whether it ought or ought not to be done. This habit 
should not, as is frequently the case, have reference 
to one or two classes of acts, as, for example, obedi- 
ence to parents, and truthfulness. It should be co-ex- 
tensive with the child's activities, including the exer- 
cises of the body and of the mind. Here it should 
be carefully noted, that the decisions of the child's 
conscience have reference to the child's view of the 
conditions presented. They should be judged and 
respected as such. The development of the moral 
nature is possible only by requiring the child to ex- 
ercise his conscience in making decisions for himself 
regarding the " ought to be" and the '' ought not to 
be," and to act upon these decisions when made. This 
course should be pursued from infancy to manhood 
by both parents and teachers. In all kinds of school 
work, as well as in matters of conduct, there should 
be a systematic, constant, and direct exercise of the 
conscience. Pupils should not be forced or induced 
to perform their work, or to pursue a required course 



98 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 

of conduct simply by the use of artificial devices, 
such as marks, prizes, and so forth. These devices 
may be used so as to secure present results, but they 
never leave a permanent impression upon the mind 
which will be of service in their absence in control- 
ling and directing both work and conduct. 



PRINCIPLES OF PUPIL'S WORK. 

Under this head will be outlined the principles which 
concern the work that should be performed by pupils 
during their educational course. No attempt is made, 
however, to outline the special studies or exercises 
that should be pursued. The suggestions given are of 
a general nature and will apply to the execution of 
any curriculum that may be adopted. 

54. The work performed by pupils sJiould accom- 
plish two general results ; Jtainely^ self- development 
and self -equipment. 

(a). The word work in this proposition is used in a 
broad sense. It includes every line of self-activity 
which has for its object the legitimate development and 
equipment of body and of mind, as well as what is gen- 
erally known as work proper, or productive effort. 
Rightly directed sports, calisthenics, gymnastics, etc., 
are as truly a part of the work which should be re- 
quired of pupils as the study of books. The truth of 
this position is now fully recognized in the kinder- 



PRINCIPLES OF PUPIVS WORK. 99 

garten, but its application is no more important there 
than at every stage of the pupil's progress until gradu- 
ating from college. Hence it is as imperative a duty to 
supply the conditions that will rightly direct the pupil's 
physical exercises and amusements, throughout his 
entire educational course, as it is to apply the condi- 
tions that will rightly direct his efforts in acquiring 
knowledge. 

{b). Self-development is of two kinds ; namely, gen- 
eral and special or professional. The nature and ex- 
tent of the former has already been outlined (Arts. 8 to 
40 inclusive). The latter has reference to the peculiar 
development or training which fits a person for a special 
work. The training, for example, which fits a physician 
to make a correct diagnosis, or an accountant to make 
accurate and rapid calculations, is of this kind. Special 
development or training should invariably follow and 
be based upon a thorough course of general training, 
and should be the result of lines of work arranged spe- 
cially for that purpose. 

(c). Self equipment is also of two kinds; namely, 
general and special or professional. The former has 
reference to the acquisition of such power, aptitudes, 
methods of work, and knowledge of materials and ap- 
pHances as will give a thorough general preparation for 
any calling in life. The latter has reference to the ac- 
quisition of such additional professional preparation as 
may be necessary for effective service in a special call- 
ing. This should be invariably based upon, and should 
follow the former as an easy and natural conse- 



lOO PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

quence. It should simply be the result of supplement- 
ing the power, aptitudes and methods of work already 
acquired by such new knowledge of materials and ap- 
pliances as belong specially to the chosen calling. This 
should be accomplished by pursuing lines of work ar- 
ranged with special reference to th it end. 

(d). Self-equipment, when completed, should include, 
in addition to what has been noted in (<f), the acquisition 
upon the part of pupils of the following : (i) A definite 
knowledge of the resources within themselves, as well as 
those outside of themselves, upon which they can con- 
stantly draw for personal enjoyment and for intellect- 
ual, moral and spiritual growth ; (2) Habits and tastes 
for reading standard authors in History, Biography, 
Literature, Science, etc., which will insure the con- 
stant companionship of the choicest spirits of all ages, 
and prove an effectual bar against indulging in lines 
of pleasure and reading which are destructive of manly 
and womanly growth ; (3) Such knowledge of human 
nature, and such sympathy with all classes and con- 
ditions of persons, as will fit them to enter into right 
and effective co-operative relations in business, in 
social life, and in beneficent efforts to render help 
to those who are in need of it. If the educational 
w^ork of pupils does not secure to them these three 
things, in addition to what has been referred to in 
notes (b) and (r), it must be regarded as largely a failure. 

55. Self-activity is the fundamental condition of 
all healthy development, both of the body and of the mind. 



PRINCIPLES OF PUPIVS WORK'. lOI 

(ft). Self-activity is of two kinds ; namely, sponta- 
neous and voluntary. This distinction is one of great 
importance to the true educator. It indicates clearly 
the only two classes of activity by which the devel- 
opment and equipment of the body and of the mind 
are directly accomplished. It marks, therefore, sharply 
the central elements in the pupil's nature to which 
teachers must direct their attention and effort in the 
execution of their work. 

(b\ Spontaneous self-activity in the case of the 
body includes, for example, such activity as is involved 
in the various processes of nutrition by which phys- 
ical growth and repair are carried on. This form of 
self- activity is, however, only one of two elements in 
physical development. The other element is voluntary 
self-activity, which takes the form of sports, work, 
and physical exercise of various sorts. These two 
elements are inseparably joined to each other^ in the 
process of physical development. Their co-opera- 
tion, under right conditions and in right proportions, 
is the chief means by which a vigorous and healthy 
body is produced. Here it should be noted that, of 
these two elements, spontaneous self-activity stands 
first, and its exercise determines the limits of voluntary 
self- activity. When the functions of nutrition, for 
example, are weak, either naturally or from obstructing 
causes, physical exercise, either in the form of sports 
or work, must be carefully guarded in order to pro- 
tect the body from permanent injury. 

(r). The relation of spontaneous to voluntary self- 



102 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION, 

activity in the case of the body, pointed out in (^), 
holds equally true in regard to the mind. Here 
spontaneous self-activity includes, for example, the 
unconscious mental process by which truth is digested 
and assimilated as stated in Art. 40 (b). This un- 
conscious mental process performs the same function 
in the development of mind that nutrition does in the 
development of the body. The voluntary self-activity 
of the mind also includes the processes of observ- 
ing, comparing, willing, etc. These processes corre- 
spond in the development of mind to physical exer- 
cises of various kinds in the development of the body. 
(d). From what has just been stated in notes {p) and 
{c), it will be seen that the success of our efforts for the 
development and equipment of the body and of the 
mind depends upon the vigorous and rightly- adjusted 
exercise of spontaneous and voluntary self-activity. 
This fact is now generally recognized and acted upon 
in reference to the body. In this case, the condition 
of the process of nutrition regulates the kind and de- 
gree of physical effort that will best promote a healthy 
physical growth. The fixed and dependent relation 
of these two kinds of activity is, as already pointed 
out, as true of the mind as of the body. Hence the 
condition of the unconscious process of mental diges- 
tion and assimilation regulates the kind and degree 
of voluntary mental effort which will best promote a 
healthy mental development. Teachers failing to rec- 
ognize and act upon this important fact, have fre- 
quently inflicted permanent mental injury upon their 



PRINCIPLES OF PUPIL'S WORK. IO3 

pupils by forcing them to undertake mental work 
which requires the exercise of voluntary mental activ- 
ity far beyond what is warranted by their mental 
ability to digest and assimilate truth. 

56. Work, rig July adapted to the needs of the pupils, 
is the principal means to be icsed to secure their self- 
development and self-equipment. 

(a). Work in this proposition includes every line of 
self-activity which contributes legitimately, and with- 
out waste of time or energy, to the self-development 
and self-equipment of the pupils. Much of the work 
now performed in schools fails of this result. Pupils 
are frequently forced to waste their time and energy 
in a fruitless effort to do work which is entirely beyond 
their present power of self-activity. 

(d). The work must be exactly suited to the capac- 
ity of the pupils. This means that the work assigned 
at any time must be such as can be performed by the 
pupils themselves, by a proper exercise of the self- 
activity they possess at that time. This condition is 
violated almost universally in regard to some lines of 
work required in schools and colleges. Pupils are 
constantly confronted with work for which their power 
of self-activity is entirely inadequate. The only course 
left in such cases is to leave the work undone, or to 
have the pupils carried through it by injurious helps 
rendered by teachers. The former is decidedly the 
better course of the two, but either results in perma- 
nent injury to the pupils. 



I04 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

(c). TJie ivork must be such as will accotnplish in 
the act of pcrfonning it the ends for zvhich it is to be 
performed. There should be a definite end accomp- 
Hshed by every kind of work assigned to pupils. This 
end may not always be apparent to the pupils, but the 
teacher must, in every case, have a clear conception of 
it in order to be able rightly to guide the pupils in 
their work. Here it must be carefully noted that the 
ends to be accomplished must always determine the 
kind of work that should be assigned and the 
method of doing it. Hence, teachers must clearly 
apprehend these ends in order rightly to assign work, 
as well as to guide in its performance. Faihng in this 
respect, they will of necessity waste their own time as 
well as the time and energy of their pupils in aimless 
and injurious efforts. The pupils in this case will be 
kept busy in doing a little of everything and nothing, 
in doing and undoing, in going through the forms of 
work, while practically accomplishing nothing of real 
value. Much of the work done in many schools, in 
the lower branches, is of this kind. A large share of 
the time and effort spent upon reading, arithmetic, 
grammar, geography, composition and like subjects is 
actually worse than wasted, because of its aimless 
character. The illegitimate use frequently made of 
memory, in each of these lines of work, illustrates this 
waste. Pupils, for example, are required to fix in their 
memory definitions, rules, forms of analysis, and other 
details which to them, at the time, are meaningless, and 
which, after being recited, must necessarily be very 



PRINCIPLES OF PUPIL'S WORK. T05 

soon forgotten. All work of this kind is very largely 
a waste of time and energy and fails to accomplish the 
end for which it is performed. 

Again, the method in which pupils are required to 
perform their work must be guarded with as much care 
as the kind of work assigned them. The importance 
of this is well illustrated in the study of languages. A 
language is usually studied for one of two purposes: 
first, to use as an instrument for oral or written com- 
munication with others, or second, to use as an exeget- 
ical instrument. In acquiring a language for either of 
these purposes some of the work should be performed 
exactly in the same way. It is, however, a great mis- 
take to insist, as some do, that the same method should 
be pursued in performing the entire work. The critical 
study, for example, of the technicalities of grammar 
and of fine lexical distinctions, however extensively and 
thoroughly pursued, will never give to the student the 
power of speaking a language correctly or even of 
writing it with ease and correctness. If this is the end 
sought, such work is not necessary, and hence, if per- 
formed, is a waste of the pupil's time. On the other 
hand, this is the very work that must be thoroughly 
done if the end sought is to become a reliable exegete. 
The importance of adapting a method of doing the 
work to the end to be accomplished is quite as marked 
in the study of some other subjects as in languages. 
Hence the care that should be taken by teachers to 
master thoroughly, in every subject, the relation be- 
tween method and end. 



I06 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

(d). The arrangement of the work must harmonize 
with the 07'der of self-development. This course must 
be pursued during the formative period of the educa- 
tional process. But as the pupils advance and become 
independent workers, the logical order of the subjects 
studied should be regarded, and finally should control 
in the arrangement of work assigned. Until independ- 
ence is possible, however, the controlling principle in 
determining the nature and arrangement of the work 
should be the order of self-development. This order can 
be ascertained and properly understood only as the result 
of a careful study of the physical and psychical forces 
by which development is produced at every stage of 
the entire formative period. The ascertained ac- 
tion of these forces indicates that the arrangement 
of work should conform substantially with the fol- 
lowing: 

(i). The amount of self-activity a pupil can put forth 
in one act must always determine how difficult each 
step of work assigned should be made. In reference to 
this statement, it should be observed that by a step of 
work is meant the amount of work a pupil should be 
required to undertake in one effort or act. This may 
be called the pupil's unit of work. What this unit 
should be in every case must be determined by the 
teacher, and should be gradually increased as the 
pupil's power of self-activity increases. Each step or 
unit of work assigned should be made sufficiently diffi- 
cult to entice effort, but not so difficult as either to 
strain or to discourage. Pupils like to do difficult 



PRINCIPLES OF PUPIL'S WORK. 10/ 

things when presented to then; in a way to afford 
pleasure and hence incite action. 

(2). The work must be arranged step by step, so 
that each step or unit can be performed by pupils by 
the exercise of their own self-activity. Teachers 
should aid or supplement the self-activity of their 
pupils, first, by the way in which they place the work 
before them, second, by supplying right incentives to 
action, and third, by guarding them against wrongly 
applying their strength in doing the work. Usually, 
when such aid as this fails, the work should be left un- 
done until the self-development of the pupils makes 
them equal to the task. It is no part of the duty of 
teachers to do the work of their pupils, or by the use of 
false helps to carry their pupils blindly over work for 
which their present power of self-activity is unequal. 
Teachers who make such a work their duty do a great 
injury to their pupils. 

(3). The arrangement of the work must be such that 
each step, when performed, will prepare the pupils 
properly for the next step in advance. Each advanced 
step should follow easily and naturally from the pre- 
ceding step. 

57. The work of pupils should be of such a nature 
and should be conducted in sucJi a zvay as to give to 
them a tJwrough mastery of fundamental principles, 
while avoiding entirely ivaste of time and effort upon 
uncalled-for details. 

(d). A large share of the time and energy of the 



I08 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

pupils is spent in many schools upon the acquisition of 
details, which, in the very nature of things, will be ac- 
quired without effort when the right time comes. 
Many of these details stand related to the growth of 
root-principles of the m.ind, in the same way as leaves 
stand related to the growth of the roots and stem of a 
plant. The leaves will come of themselves when the 
necessary growth of root and stem takes place. In like 
manner these details will come of themselves when the 
necessary growth of the root-principles of the mind on 
which they depend has taken place. It would certainly 
be regarded as a very foolish waste of time and effort 
to attempt by artificial processes to put leaves upon 
plants. It is no less foolish a waste of time and effort 
to attempt by artificial means to fix in the memory of 
pupils, at the wrong time, details which will, at the 
right time, take their place there as the necessary 
products of mind growth, as naturally as the leaves 
take their place upon plants as the necessary products 
of plant growth. 

{b). The reason generally assigned for the time and 
effort spent in acquiring these artificial and uncalled- 
for details is the mental discipline which the exercise 
affords. This reason is certainly not based upon a good 
foundation. But even granting that some mental dis- 
cipline is acquired, the same mental discipline can be 
had in much larger measure by performing work 
whose products are not to pass out of the mind as soon 
as the recitation is over ; work which will also supply 
material for constant mental activity, and which will 



PRlNCrPLES OF PUPIL'S WORK. lOQ 

broaden the field of the pupil's knowledge. Aside, 
however, from any other consideration, the funda- 
mentals of mental growth and of knowledge are too 
many and too important to allow a single day of the 
pupil's time to be spent upon acquiring details which 
serve scarcely any purpose, and which necessarily pass 
out of mind in a short time. 

(c). But, again, the artificial acquisition of uncalled- 
for details so commonly practiced in our schools does 
a greater injury to pupils than to waste their time and 
effort It substitutes artificial and unrelated material 
for the mental aliment necessary for real mind growth. 
And hence it actually starves mentally a large number 
of the very brightest pupils. Such pupils usually become 
soured and disgusted with school work simply because 
of the meaningless drudgery they are required to per- 
form in fixing in the memory useless details. In short, 
this entire course makes impossible, in a very large 
degree, the exercise of that kind of self- activity by 
which alone the physical and mental development and 
equipment of the pupils can be accomplished. 

58. TJie zuork of pupils from the infant class on 
tJirough college sJionld be conducted in such a manner 
as to cause them to acquire a systematic method of 
doing every thing they undertake. 

(a). Pupils, in performing their work, should in- 
variably follow the course of an investigator and not 
that of an original discoverer. The latter is in search 
of the unknown, not only to himself but to all else be- 



no PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

sides ; hence every step taken is involved in a degree 
of uncertainty. Hypothesis after hypothesis may have 
to be made and rejected before reaching a final result. 
This process is necessarily slow, and it is also the 
work of a mind already trained rather than that of one 
needing training. Pupils are not in any case original 
discoverers in this sense. They are in search of what 
is to them unknown but what is fully and clearly 
known to others. This distinction places the work of 
pupils upon an entirely different basis from that of an 
original discoverer. In all their investigations and 
search after truth they should therefore be guided by 
their teachers in taking advantage of methods, means 
and material already discovered and in successful use 
by investigators of recognized standing. None of their 
time should be wasted in going through the slow and 
necessarily uncertain steps of the original discoverer. 
The field of work they should undertake is too ex- 
tensive to admit of such a course. 

{U). V/hat is commonly known as the Inductive 
MetJiod is the true course to pursue in all rightly 
conducted educational work. This statement, how- 
ever, if understood in an unlimited sense, includes too 
much. In the educational process, when rightly carried 
on. Induction and Deduction must go hand in hand. 
The former always precedes the latter, but both are 
equally necessary as means of mental development 
and instruments of work. Pupils, therefore, fail of 
right mental development and of right equipment 
who are not able to perform work successfully in 



PRINCIPLES OF PUPIVS WORK. I I I 

which each of these methods must necessarily be 
used. 

(r). The Inductive Method of investigation or of 
performing mental work consists of four steps ; namely, 
Observation, Comparison and Classification, Deduction, 
Verification. Before stating the nature and ap- 
pHcation of each of these steps, it is necessary to note 
that Observation includes three forms of mental 
activity; namely, Sensation, Sense Perception and 
Ideation. Sensation denotes the mental activity called 
feeling, which is produced by impressions made on the 
sensitive organs; Sense Perception denotes the mental 
activity which cognizes an outward object as the cause 
of feeling ; and Ideation denotes the mental activity 
which forms a definite representation or idea in the 
mind of the object of Sense Perception. A treatise on 
psychology must be consulted for a full statement of 
the nature and relation of these three forms of mental 
activity to each other and their place in the educa- 
tional process. It must, however, be stated here that 
the acquisition upon the part of pupils of an acute 
sensitiveness to impressions made upon the organs of 
sense, and also of strong and active powers of sense 
perception and of ideation, is a matter of vital im- 
portance to their progress in mental growth and in 
mental work. 

{d). Observation, the first step in the Inductive 
Method, consists of a systematic search for existing 
facts, for what is, and an examination of the nature 
of these facts and their relation to each other This 



112 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

search and examination is, in the first place, confined 
to noting the structure and nature of individual objects 
or definite units of investigation, and is usually con- 
ducted in one of four ways : First, the work may be 
performed by the use of the senses alone ; second, by 
the use of the senses supplemented by instruments such 
as the eyeglass, microscope, telescope, etc.; third, by 
the use of the senses supplemented by experiments in 
which apparatus and various mechanical devices are 
used, as in chemistry, physics, etc.; fourth, by the use 
of the senses, without what is known as apparatus, but 
supplemented by experiments, in which various kinds 
of changes are made in the object under examination, 
in its form, conditions of existence, representation, etc., 
such as are of service in the study of Reading, Lan- 
guages, Mathematics, Botany, Physiology, etc. 

(e). In conducting Observation, the object or unit 
of investigation must first be viewed as a whole. Then, 
step by step, each fact in reference to the structure and 
nature of the object is noted, until the vague whole 
of the first act is seen to consist of an aggregate of parts 
possessing various properties. Thus it will be seen 
that Observation is, in a certain sense, an analytic or 
decomposing process by which the mind is placed in 
conscious relations to all of the elements which con- 
stitute a given complex unit or whole. This process, 
rightly conducted, involves three steps. In the first 
step a note is made of all the facts as they exist or 
of what is, and in the second of the relation existing 
between these parts or between the elements compos- 



PRI.VC/PLES OF PUPinS WORK. II3 



ing the unit under consideration. After these two 
steps, which are usually regarded as Observation 
proper, have been completed, a third step, of a differ- 
ent nature, must be taken in order to give pupils the 
full mental benefit of the work performed. The third 
step consists of a synthetic mental effort by which all 
the facts, elements and relations noted are formed 
into a mental unit or idea representing the object ob- 
served, and to which a name is attached by which it 
can be recalled at pleasure and made the subject 
of thought, in the absence of the object which it repre- 
sents. This last step is one of vital importance in men- 
tal development. The other two steps fill an import- 
ant place, but they may be performed with apparent 
success without resulting in any valuable mental 
strength. Indeed, where the third step is partially or 
wholly neglected, they result in weakening rather than 
in strengthening mental effort. Pupils, in such a case, 
gradually become helplessly dependent for mental 
activity upon the actual presence of the objects. Such 
a result is to be carefully avoided, but this can only be 
done by persistently making each pupil complete the 
process of observation by forming a vivid mental pict- 
ure of the object observed in the way indicated in the 
third step. 

(/). The process of Observation, including Ideation 
or the third step referred to in {c), is fundamental to 
every kind of work which must be performed by pu- 
pils in the act of developing and equipping their minds. 
It is the key to the highest success at every stage 



114 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

of the pupil's progress in the study of languages, math- 
ematics, physical and mental sciences, theology, phil- 
osophy and every other department of mental effort. 
Hence the importance of rightly initiating and direct- 
ing pupils in acquiring the power and forming the habit 
of performing every^ line of their work in this way can- 
not be overestimated or too strongly emphasized. 
The training in this matter should commence in the 
infant class and should be continued throughout the 
entire educational course. During the earlier stages 
of school life the observations of pupils cannot be used 
as rehable data on which to base conclusions. This 
condition of things will, however, gradually disappear 
if teachers give proper and earnest attention to the 
training of the senses, and guide their pupils in their 
use in each of the four ways pointed out in {d). Here 
it should be noted that only observations conducted by 
trained senses, under the guidance and control of a 
trained intellect and will, can supply reliable data on 
which to base conclusions that are final. Hence the 
care that must be taken in guiding pupils In observing 
and collecting data from which they are required to 
deduce principles, laws, formulas, rules, or definitions. 

(^). Comparison and Classification, the second step 
in the Inductive Method, consists of the process by 
which general propositions are formed from observed 
particulars. This process is in fact a farther applica- 
tion of Observation, including Ideation, or the third 
step referred to in {e) Observation proper, as con- 
sidered in (d), is restricted to noting the facts in refer- 



PRINCIPLES OF P'UPIVS WORK. I I 5 

cnce to the nature and structure of individual objects or 
definite units of investigation of any kind. When this 
work is exhaustively performed, and the facts observed in 
reference to each of a number of objects have been ar- 
ranged in groups by themselves, the work of Observation 
proper is completed and the material is ready for Coui- 
parison and Classification. This step consists in com- 
paring the groups of elements or properties formed by 
Observation, and noting, first, how many of these ele- 
ments or properties are possessed in common by all 
of the objects, and second, that the elements or proper- 
ties possessed in common can be affirmed equally 
of each of the objects, and hence that a general propo- 
sition can be formed making this affirmation. It 
should here be carefully observed that general propo- 
sitions formed in this way are general only in the sense 
that the predicate applies to all of the objects, repre- 
sented by the subject of the proposition, which have 
been included in the previous process of Observation. 

{Ji). In reference to the nature of Deduction, the 
third step in the Inductive Method, and the grounds 
on which the process is based there are different views 
held by good authorities. As to the relative merits of 
these views, works on Inductive Logic must be con- 
sulted. In this connection, however, the subject 
must be regarded simply as an element of the edu- 
cational process ; as such the practical and perhaps 
commonly accepted view is all that need be stated. 
From this standpoint, therefore. Deduction, as the 
third step in the Inductive Method, may be defined 



Il6 PRTMCTPLES OF EDUCATION. 

as the process by which we determine when the 
predicate of a general proposition can be affirmed of 
an object which was not included among the objects 
observed when the proposition was originally formed. 
The practical application of this process is very varied. 
The correctness of the conclusion reached in any 
given case depends largely upon the intuitive acute- 
ness of the observer, and upon the closeness of the 
relation of the nature and structure of the object pre- 
sented to the objects considered in forming the original 
proposition. Suppose, for example, the general pro- 
position to be, Oxen cJiew the cud, and that this was 
formed from observations made upon ten specimens. 
In case another ox is presented differing in size, color 
and general appearance from those examined, the 
conclusion would be readily drawn that he also chews 
the cud. This conclusion would be based not upon 
identity but upon marked resemblance in structure. But 
now suppose a bison in place of another ox is pre- 
sented, the conclusion would not be so readily drawn, if at 
all, and still less so if a deer is substituted for the bison. 
Yet in both of these cases a more careful observation 
of resemblances in structure and habits would un- 
doubtedly lead to the conclusion that both chew the 
cud. Deductions of this sort are never to be regarded 
as absolutely certain until verified. They possess, 
however, varied degrees of certainty, according to the 
conditions under which they are made. This fact 
must be impressed upon pupils, and they must be 
carefully trained in recognizing readily data from which 



PRIMCIPLES OF TEACHERS' WORK. H/ 



reliable deductions can bo made. This is important, 
as the process of Deduction, or third step of the mduc- 
tive method, is the chief means through which their 
knowledge, in every line of investigation, is system- 
atically broadened. 

(/) Verification, the fourth step in the Inductive 
Method, consists in the process of verifying deductions 
made by means of the third step as outlined in note (li). 
This is done by submitting the object or unit m 
reference to which the deduction is made to the same 
scrutiny by Observation and by Comparison and 
Classification as was given the objects with which it is, 
by Deduction, now classified. The notes on Observa- 
tion and on Comparison and Classification can be 
referred to in regard to the manner of conducting 
the process of Verification. 

PRINCIPLES OF TEACHERS' WORK. 

There are at least a few general principles which 
all teachers should regard in performing their work. 
These, however, are of such a nature as to leave 
teachers perfectly free to exercise, in every respect, 
their own individuality. The work of teachers, like 
all other kinds of work, can be conducted success- 
fully only by men and women who bring to it a 
strong personality ; a personality which will assert 
itself in original methods of doing things suited to 
the special conditions under which the work must be 



Il8 I-R/.VCIPLES OF EDUCATIOK. 

performed. Persons of this sort are usually possessed 
of tact and a good degree of common sense, and 
hence, while working in their own " harness," will 
take advantage of, and be guided by, principles that 
have given success to others in doing a similar 
line of work. Such persons among teachers are 
always ready and anxious to study and apply all 
suggestions coming from the experience of others. 
Hence the following outline of principles is not given 
with the view of setting forth a fixed method of 
teaching which all should blindly follow, but rather for 
the purpose of presenting materials and suggestions 
which may be helpful to teachers as a basis for careful 
thought upon the way in which their work should be 
conducted. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES. * 

59. IJie zvork of teachers is co-extensive with the 
entire educational process by which both the body and 
the 7nind of tJieir pupils are developed and equipped. 

(a). The view, very commonly entertained, which 
regards teachers simply as instructors or the mediums 
through which the pupils are to acquire knoivledge is 
entirely wrong. This is only a very small part of 
their work. Their work includes a much more im- 
portant and wider range than this. It has to do not 
only with imparting knowledge, but with every line 
of physical and mental activity which contributes in 
any way to developing and equipping their pupils. 



% 



GENERAL PRIXCIPLES. IIQ 

It has, therefore, to do with molding every phase of 
the nature of the pupils, including the physical, in- 
tellectual, moral and spiritual. Hence the way in 
which this work is understood and performed will 
determine the nature and extent of the products of 
the educational course of the pupils. 

{b). The nature and extent of the work to be per- 
formed determines the qualifications which teachers 
should possess. These qualifications should be such as 
will place them in vital and helpful relation to their 
pupils in every line of effort their pupils must pursue 
in promoting self-development and self-equipment. 

60. The work of teachers in a general sense consists 
in supplying the conditions or occasions for the vigorous 
and healthful exercise of the self-activities of their 
pupils. 

{a). Teachers are, in an important sense, co-workers 
with their pupils, but this does not mean that they are 
to join with their pupils and actually perform a part of 
their work. They are co-workers not in this sense, but 
in the sense of conditioning their pupils so that they 
can and will of themselves perform the work assigned 
to them. On the carefulness with which teachers pur- 
sue this course will depend the amount of real good 
they will render their pupils in the matter of self- 
development and preparation for becoming effective 
workers in their life calling. The following hints in 
reference to this course and in reference to what 
teachers cannot do for their pupils should be noted. 



1 2 O PRINCIPL ES OF ED UCA TION. 

(b). Teachers, in conditioning properly their pupils 
for their work, should see that their surroundings are 
made pleasant, that they are supplied with plenty of 
fresh and healthful air, that they are kept entirely 
free from petty annoyances from fellow pupils, and 
from needless requirements and restrictions, that their 
time for doing their work is systematically arranged 
and that right physical exercises are provided at proper 
intervals during the school hours. All these conditions 
are properly within the control of energetic and rightly 
qualified teachers, and should receive special attention 
because they are of real importance to the success of 
their pupils in their work. 

(c). Teachers, in rightly conditioning their pupils, 
must supply them with proper incentives in their work. 
These incentives must be varied according to the age, 
advancement in study, past and present environments, 
special ambitions, and other conditions peculiar to the 
pupils. But in no case should false incentives be used 
which have only a present and perhaps momentary 
effect, such as sweetmeats, promises of certain selfish 
indulgences, gifts and prizes. Incentives of the right 
kind should invariably have their origin in the kind of 
work performed, in the manner of performing it, in the 
knowledge or other products to be attained, in the 
ideal end of every effort in the way of self-develop- 
ment, and in present pleasant experiences as the result 
of successful effort. These incentives must be con- 
stantly held before the pupils in the life of their 
teachers, both in word and deed, in precept and ex- 



GEXERAL PRIXCIPLES. 121 

ample. Teachers should be an inspiration to their 
pupils in all these things. Their own earnest, prompt 
and systematic performance of every work should be 
one of the strongest incentives to their pupils to pursue 
a like course. Their watchword in every line of effort 
should always be come and not go. 

(d). Teachers, in rightly conditioning their pupils for 
their work, must see that the work assigned is properly 
adapted to the present power of self-activity possessed 
by the pupils (Art. 56) {b), that it is rightly arranged so 
that every step prepares for the next (Art. 56) (^/), that 
it is rightly executed, and that the final products are 
reduced to systernatized knowledge. In this matter 
everything depends upon the qualifications of the 
teachers for their work. They will fail in supplying 
these conditions unless they have definite and clear 
views regarding them and are possessed of the 
power that will enable them rightly to execute their 
views. 

{e). Teachers, in seeking to condition their pupils 
properly for their work, must note carefully wnat they 
cannot do for them. No person, for example, can 
digest or assimilate food for another, nor take for 
another the exercise and rest necessary for this pur- 
pose. In this case the only help one person can 
render another is to supply healthful food in proper 
quantities and at proper times, and also right condi- 
tions for needed exercise and rest. What is true of 
the development of the body is equally true of the 
development of the mind. No person can perceive, 



122 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

feel, reason, or understand for another. All operations 
of the mind, by which it is developed, are as strictly 
personal as the functions of nutrition in reference to the 
body. Each mind must do its own work or else it 
remains forever undone. We can acquire experiences 
of all sorts, but we cannot impart them to any one 
else. All we can do in this case for others is to 
supply them with the conditions through which our 
experiences came to us. The mental effort put forth 
by us in gaining these experiences must be put forth by 
every one else who would acquire precisely the same 
experiences and the mental development accompany- 
ing them. This is true not only of intellectual, but 
also of moral and spiritual experiences. 

6i. Teachers should possess substantially the follow- 
ing general qualifications in order to be able rightly 
to condition their pupils for the development of a re- 
liable a J id symmetrical character. 

{a). They should possess a reHable, transparent 
and unimpeachable character and a strong personality, 
marked by tact and good common sense. 

(b). They should possess the power of forming, in- 
tuitively, a reliable estimate of the real character of 
their pupils, and of the forces by which their conduct 
is directed and controlled. 

(<:). They should possess a commanding presence, 
accompanied by a sympathetic nature, guided by a sen- 
sitive conscience and firm and controlling will. 

{d). They should be true to every duty and per- 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. I 23 

sonal conviction, yet generous and fair in their treat- 
ment of the convictions of others, recognizing in the 
fullest sense the principle of *' Sonl Liberty,'* and 
maintaining in acts, as well as in words, the ''Golden 
Rale'' as the true standard of life's conduct. 

{e). They should be sympathetic towards their pu- 
pils, giving to them their confidence and rendering 
them effective help whenever necessary. 

(/). They should be entirely impartial in all their 
dealings with their pupils. Their course in this respect 
should be so transparent that no pupil can fail to rec- 
ognize the just and unbiased character of their actions. 

{g). They should exercise a kind and diligent watch- 
fulness over every step in the progress of their pupils 
in manly and womanly self-development, surrounding 
them constantly with the most favorable conditions to 
promote this end. 

{h). They should be models to their pupils in all 
things that pertain to personal conduct, or that pertain 
to any Hne of school work in which pupils are 
engaged. They should never fail to sustain by their 
own acts every requirement they make of their 
pupils. 

The foregoing general qualifications are fundamental, 
as they constitute the basis which gives effectiveness to 
all others. Teachers who are defective in these, how- 
ever well qualified for their work in other respects, 
must of necessity largely fail in rightly conditioning 
their pupils for the successful development of a trust- 
worthy character. 



124 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 



SPECIAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 

Under this head are outHned the principles of mental 
activity which should invariably guide teachers in the 
work of imparting instruction. Teaching proper is the 
process by which teachers condition the minds of their 
pupils so that they may be able : {a) To gain a clear, 
accurate and comprehensive knowledge of all the truths 
involved in each subject on which they receive instruc- 
tion ; (b) To digest and assimilate the truths acquired 
and make them a permanent possession, which can be 
recalled to consciousness whenever occasion requires; 
(c) To discover the practical applications of the knowl- 
edge acquired in the common affairs of life, and to 
gain the abihty to make these applications. When 
teachers condition their pupils so as to accomplish 
successfully each of these three ends they will, at the 
same time, condition them so as to accompHsh in the 
best manner their self-development and self-equipment. 
The following propositions and notes suggest the way 
in which this work should be done. 

62. The utind must gain through the senses its 
knowledge of everything external to itself. 

(a). This proposition is self-evident and should be 
the invariable guide of teachers in conditioning their 
pupils in gaining a knowledge of material things. 

{b). In every case possible, when an object is first 
studied it should be present to the senses. But as 
soon as clearly defined in the mind it should be with- 



SPECIAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 125 



drawn, and pupils should be required by the exercise 
of Ideation to continue the object before the mind as 
a definite subject of thought. The continuance of 
the use of objects beyond the limit stated is a source 
of weakness and permanent injury to the pupils. 

{c). When the objects studied cannot be present to 
the sense, as in geography and similar subjects, models 
should be used, and, where this cannot be done, 
drawings and pictures. It must here be noted, how- 
ever, that subjects of this kind can only be studied 
properly after pupils have acquired sufficient power in 
the exercise of constructive imagination to enable 
them, by the aid of a model, drawing or picture to 
construct a correct and vivid representation in their 
own minds of the real objects they are engaged in 
studying. It must not be forgotten that, until this 
power is acquired, models, drawings and pictures are 
to the pupils just what they appear to be to their 
senses, hence they fail almost entirely to comprehend 
the true nature of the objects on which instruction is 
attempted to be given. 

{d). In the use of objects three ends are to be accom- 
plished. First, the powerof the senses is to be developed. 
This requires great care upon the part of teachers 
in selecting and arranging the objects to be used. It 
also requires equal care in the method of conducting 
exercises for this purpose. Second, a correct knowledge 
of the nature and properties of material things and 
clear and accurate definitions are to be secured. This 
is the result of systematic study and instruction. Ob- 



126 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

jects used in a rambling way in what is known as ob- 
ject lessons, or for illustrative purposes, fail of this end. 
Such a use may, perhaps, be legitimate for other pur- 
poses, but not for this. Third, the proper development 
of the power of Ideation is at first to be accomplished 
almost exclusively in this way. This is perhaps the most 
important thing that can be done for pupils, particularly 
during the earlier stages of their work. Their success 
in prosecuting the more abstract subjects of study 
depends very largely upon their ability to form correct 
and vivid mental representations, not only of objects 
of sense but also of every mental object of thought. 
The latter, however, is based upon the former, hence 
the importance of emphasizing strongly the exercise 
of Ideation in connection with the use of objects. 

63. The mind can exercise only a definite amount of 
energy at any one time. This amount varies with age^ 
natural ability^ and degree of development. 

(a). As a necessary consequence of this limitation of 
the exercise of mental power, it is evident that the un- 
developed mind, such as that of the child, can give 
attention only to one thing at a time. Hence teachers 
in assigning work, and in conditioning pupils properly 
for its performance, must have careful regard to the 
average minimum of mental power their pupils can 
exercise. 

(d). Teachers, in all explanations, in conformity with 
this principle, should present only one step at a time, 
and each step should be held before the mind of the 



SPECIAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 1 2/ 

pupils until it is so clearly defined that it requires 
but little energy to hold it while a new step is under- 
taken. When teachers fail to pursue this course, ex- 
planations which may be clear and full make usually 
only a confused impression upon the minds of the 
average pupils. Their mental power is not equal to 
holding before them a clear and vivid representation of 
a series of steps which have been rapidly presented by 
the teacher. Hence, they become confused and even 
discouraged, and, consequently, their own time as well 
as their teacher's must be wasted in several repetitions 
of an explanation which, if properly presented at first, 
would have been understood. 

(c). In keeping also with this principle, all illustra- 
tions used should be simple and familiar, in order not 
to overtax the energy of the pupils, nor divert their 
attention and mental strength from the very thing 
illustrated. 

64. The nihid proceeds from the simple to the com- 
plex, from the known to the iinhiown, from the par- 
ticnlar to the general. 

This fixed order of the exercise of mental activity 
makes it imperative upon teachers to arrange all ma- 
terial made a subject of study by their pupils substan- 
tially as follows : 

{(x). So that what is complex or dependent upon 
other matter is preceded by the elements of which it is 
composed and the matter on which it depends ; 

{U). So that the known may stand in such relations 



128 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

to the unknown as will serve to place the pupils in a 
position, which will require them to include in their 
observation of the known the elements of the unknown, 
by which a correct knowledge of it will be acquired ; 

(c). So that in every case a sufficient number of par- 
ticulars must be examined before general propositions 
or statements are formulated. 

65. The mind perceives wholes firsts then parts ; 
differences, then similarities. 

(a). It follows from this principle that all complex 
objects of study are perceived, in the first place, in a 
vague and indefinite manner ; that they are made dis- 
tinct, definite and comprehensive just to the extent 
they are [Art. 58 {d) to {g)\ analyzed, by the process of 
Observation and Comparison, into elements or parts 
that can be readily and clearly perceived, and to the 
extent that these elements or parts are again formed 
into mental units, by an act of constructive Ideation, 
which correctly represent the objects studied. 

(U). Wholes that are made objects of study must be 
such as can be perceived vaguely in a single act of the 
mind. When this cannot be done there is no basis 
presented for mental activity, and hence such wholes 
cannot in any proper sense become real objects of 
study. Here it must be noted that the wholes or 
units that can be taken in by a single act of mind 
varies in breadth or size according to the mental power 
acquired. Hence it is imperative upon teachers to 
analyze each object or subject assigned to pupils into 



SPECIAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 1 29 

such dependent parts or units as are adapted to their 
average mental strength, and to place before their pu- 
pils, as an object of study, only one of these parts at 
a time. 

((f). The wholes or units of study assigned to pupils 
should, in every case, be made clear and comprehensi- 
ble to their minds by a definite exercise of their own 
self- activity. To accomplish this, they must of them- 
selves analyze and form into vivid mental representa- 
tions the wholes assigned in the manner pointed out in 
note (a). In this self-effort, if the wholes assigned are 
properly adapted to the pupils, only such aid should be 
given by the teachers as will guide their work in a 
manner to prevent waste of time and energy in wrong 
directions. 

id). Differences attract attention before similarities ; 
hence study, rightly conducted, is chiefly a process of 
differentiation. The first step in this process is to dis- 
tinguish the known from the unknown ; then, second, 
to note the special marks or differences which sepa- 
rate the units or elements of the known from each 
other. When pupils have performed these two steps, 
and can clearly discriminate what they know from what 
they do not know, and the units or elements of the 
known from each other, they have laid the right foun- 
dation for a successful effort in investigating and mas- 
tering the unknown. 

66. The mind can be properly developed and equipped 
for work only as its experiences are the direct prodjicts 



130 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

of its oivn ejforts, and as these expeiHences are by its 
own efforts transformed into systematized knowledge. 

{a). It must here be observed that full compliance 
with this principle does not require that pupils pursue 
the same course in performing their work as original 
discoverers. Pupils are, as already stated, investigators 
and not original discoverers of the principles, laws, at- 
tributes, etc., of existing entities and phenomena. Their 
object is not to discover, but to acquire a correct 
knowledge of what is already well known and largely 
formulated, and, in the act of doing this, to develop 
and equip their minds for future work. To accomplish 
these three ends in the most effective manner, pupils, in 
the sense of making their own observations and per- 
forming their own experiments, must pursue the course 
of original investigators. But in no case should they 
be allowed to waste time and energy in making obser- 
vations and experiments in the uncertain regions that 
must largely and necessarily occupy the time and 
energy of original discoverers. It is the imperative 
duty of teachers to guard against such a course. They 
must direct the self-effort of their pupils in such a 
manner as to exclude entirely that injurious and waste- 
ful line of work, which is of the nature of ** Looking 
for a pin in a haystack." 

{h). Keeping in mind the facts which have just been 
stated in note (a), the application of this Principle 
requires that teaching proper, should consist chiefly, 
if not entirely, of supplying the following : 

(i). Conditions or occasions which will enable pupils 



SPECIAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 13 1 

to acquire by their own efforts such experiences and 
knowledge of all objective entities or realities with 
which they have to do, as these entities or realities 
should afford them, at the time they are investigated. 
It should here be observed that the experiences and 
knowledge which entities and realities are capable of 
affording are not to be exhaustively acquired at any 
one time. The extent of the acquisition that should 
be made at any one time depends upon the stage of 
development reached by the pupils. Hence care must 
be exercised by teachers not to attempt to force their 
pupils to acquire experiences and knowledge which lie 
beyond the natural limits of their development. 

(2). Conditions or occasions which will enable pupils 
to discover for themselves so much of the truth, and of 
the principles and laws underlying each subject studied, 
as will make clear and real all of the elements of which 
each subject is composed. It will here be noted that 
it is the effort to discover a given property, principle 
or law that gives interest, clearness and reality to the 
knowledge acquired. Hence the importance of insist- 
ing that pupils should perform so much of this kind of 
work as is necessary to secure these ends. 

(3). Conditions or occasions which will cause pu- 
pils to continue thinking and reasoning persistently 
upon what is partially or imperfectly known to them 
until it becomes clearly defined in their minds. Truths, 
principles, laws, etc., apprehended imperfectly, or in a 
confused manner, constitute one of the greatest hin- 
drances to the successful progress of pupils in their 



132 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

work. Hence time is lost and wasted in allowing pu- 
pils to pass to advanced work before they thoroughly 
comprehend the elementary principles on which the 
advanced work depends. It must here be noted, how- 
ever, that this thorough mastery of elementary princi- 
ples, before passing to advanced work, does not mean 
that kind of thoroughness which consists in mastering 
exhaustively useless details. 

(4). Conditions or occasions which will enable and 
cause pupils to arrange and perform their work in such 
order as will place them in possession, when their 
work is completed, of a systematic knowledge of the 
subject studied. This will require a very careful su- 
pervision, by teachers, of every step of the work of the 
pupils. It means system in the performance of every 
step. But it means especially that pupils should be 
required, at regular intervals, by careful reflection, in- 
dependent of all helps from books, teachers, or other 
sources, to form the details of what they have studied 
into a system or unit which they are to hold clearly 
and vividly in their minds as a permanent possession 
while they proceed with advanced work. 

(5). Conditions or occasions which will enable and 
cause the pupils to express in good form and in their 
own language, at every stage of their progress, the 
knowledge they acquire. The importance of this 
phase of the pupils' work cannot be over estimated. 
In the first place, no mental process can be properly 
completed until its products can be correctly ex- 
pressed in oral and written form. But, in the second 



SPECIAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 1 33 

place, no other acquirements which pupils make are 
in such constant use or serve such important ends in 
their life work. An exact use of language is an im- 
portant help in all mental efforts in which they 
engage. 

6'j. The mind reproduces or recalls its former states 
and experiences through the association of these states 
and experiences with what is pj^esent at the time they 
are to be recalled. 

{a). The proper recognition of this principle in im- 
parting instruction is of first importance. Teachers 
may be successful in conditioning their pupils so 
that they can readily gain a correct and clear know- 
ledge of the subjects studied, and yet, at the same 
time, fail in conditioning them so that the knowledge 
acquired is made a permanent possession, that can 
be recalled into consciousness whenever required. 
This failure results from neglecting to supply con- 
ditions, in the act of gaining the knowledge, that 
will necessitate the formation of sufficiently strong 
and varied associations to serve this purpose. These 
associations consist of one or more of the following, 
which are generally known as laws of memory : 

(i). The association of co-existence in time or being 
immediately successive in time. 

(2). The association of co-existence in space or being 
immediately joined jn space. 

(3). The association of dependence upon each other, 
as cause and effect, as means and end, as whole and part. 



134 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

(4). The association of contrast or similarity. 

(5). The association of the sign to the thing 
signified. 

The following suggestions will serve to indicate the 
way in which the work of pupils should be conducted 
in order that these laws of association may keep con- 
stantly fresh and vivid in their minds the experiences 
and knowledge acquired: 

(b). The pupil's work should be conducted in such 
a manner as will associate, as far as possible, the 
knowledge acquired with what will occur in the 
ordinary experience of an average life. 

(c). The knowledge of facts, principles, laws and 
processes should always be acquired by the pupils 
through, and in connection with, the conditions that 
will actually exist when such knowledge is to be re- 
called for use in after life. 

(d). All of the knowledge and experiences of 
pupils should, in the act of acquiring them, be 
closely associated with the words that will con- 
stitute the working vocabulary of the pupils, so that 
they may be constantly recalled by the use of these 
words in practical life. 

(e). In acquiring a knowledge of a language its 
words should, as far as possible, be closely associated 
with the experiences that will occur in the daily life 
of the pupils and with the words of their mother 
tongue, so that the vocabulary qf the acquired lan- 
guage may, by the ordinary occurrences of daily life, 
be kept constantly fresh in the mind. 



MEANS TO BE USED IN TEACHING. 135 

MEANS TO BE USED IN TEACHING. 

The nature of the work to be performed by teach- 
ers has already been fully outlined It only remains 
under the present head to outline the means that 
should be used in performing this work. These may 
be grouped under four heads ; namely, the use of 
special arrangements of work, the use of illustrations, 
the use of questions, and the use of special directions. 

6'^. Teachers should condition their pupils for success- 
ful work by effective arrangements of tJie matter under 
ijtvestigation and of methods of ivork. 

(a). The work of the pupils should be arranged as a 
whole, and each daily exercise with the strictest re- 
gard to their age, mental development and pecular en- 
vironments. 

{b). the arrangement of matter and methods of work 
should, in every case, be such that each step, when per- 
formed, will prepare the pupils thoroughly to undertake 
the step immediately following with the least possible 
aid from the teacher. 

{c). the arrangement of matter and methods of work 
should also be such that, in the act of performing each 
step, the inquisitiveness of the pupils will be thoroughly 
roused with reference to what is still in advance ; in 
short, should be such as will leave the mind dissatisfied 
with its present knowledge of the subject under con- 
sideration, and will, therefore, create a thirst for farther 
light and clearer and more extended experiences. 



136 PRINCIPLES OF education: 

{d). The arrangement of matter and methods of work 
should be such as will naturally and necessarily prepare 
the pupil's mind to receive and understand all subjects 
in advance which are directly related to or dependent 
upon the one under consideration. 

{e). The arrangement of matter and methods of work 
should be based upCn the laws of association given in 
Art. 67 («), so that no waste of mental energy will be 
required of the pupils in fixing the products of their 
own efforts in the memory in such a way as to be readily 
recalled into consciousness in their integrity when 
required. 

69. leachers should condition their pupils for success- 
ful work by the use of illustrations which will place them 
in a position to understand fully and readily the subject 
under consideration. 

(a). The object of every illustration should be to 
place the matter under consideration in.such relation to 
the minds of the pupils that they may be able by their 
own effort to perform the work assigned to them. 
When illustrations are carried beyond this point they 
are an injury to the pupils. 

(b). All illustrations should be selected from what is 
known and famihar to the pupils ; they should be simple 
and clear ; they should be new, striking and forcible, and 
they should be presented so as to direct attention sharp- 
ly to the thing illustrated. 

(c). Illustrations fail entirely of serving the purposes 
for which they should be used when they are of such 



MEANS TO BE USED IN TEACHING. 1^7 

a nature, and are presented in such a way, as to fix the 
attention of the pupils upon the illustrations themselves 
rather than upon the points to be made plain and mem- 
orable by their use. This, however, is the common 
result when complex and dazzling illustrations are used, 
as is frequently done in popular lectures upon some of 
the natural sciences. 

70. Teachers should condition their pupils for success- 
ful work by the use of pertinent and properly arranged 
questions. 

(a). This is perhaps the most important means by 
which teachers can effectively condition their pupils for 
successful work. Questions should be used to accom- 
plish three distinct ends : namely, to Stimulate or gen- 
erate such mental activity as will fit the pupils to enter 
with pleasure and earnestness upon the work to be 
performed; to Develop or place the minds of the pupils 
in effective working relations to what they have to do 
and to guide them in rightly doing it ; to Test or ascer- 
tain if subjects which the pupils have considered are 
clearly understood and made a permanent possession. 
In accomplishing successfully these ends the questions 
used and the method of using them should be some- 
what different in each case. Stimulating questions, for 
example, need not necessarily be directed to the sub- 
ject in hand. The object to be gained by such ques- 
tions is to produce that mental excitation without which 
the minds of the pupils cannot be put in effective work- 
ing relations to the matter to be considered. On the 



138 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

Other hand, development questions must invariably have 
their origin in the subject under consideration and, also, 
must have direct reference to the present efforts of the 
pupils. But, again, testing questions should take a 
broader range than development questions. They are 
intended not only to test how well the pupils have 
mastered the subject in hand, but also how well they 
retain the products of their previous efforts and utilize 
them in the work in their present effort. The follow- 
ing brief propositions present, in a general way, the 
nature, origin, purpose and order of questions to be 
used as means in the art of teaching. 

(i). Questions should be asked in such a manner 
and should be of such a nature as to stimulate the 
pupils to question themselves, and to put forth such 
efforts as may be necessary to master the subjects under 
consideration without assistance from outside sources. 

(2). Each question asked should originate in a pres- 
ent and conscious weakness or difficulty of the pupil 
which is clearly perceived by the teacher. 

(3). Each question asked should be so expressed 
and so directed to the pupil's weakness or difficulty as 
to render the help absolutely necessary in view of the 
pupil's present condition. 

(4). Each question asked should be short and free 
from ambiguity. 

(5). The order which should be pursued in asking 
questions should always be determined by the condi- 
tion of the pupil's mind with reference to the result to 
be secured. 



MEANS TO BE USED IN TEACHING. 139 

ib). It should here be carefully noted that the ques- 
tions that are to be used, as a means of properly con- 
ditioning pupils for their work, are not all to be asked 
by the teachers. The pupils should be questioners quite 
as much as the teachers. Indeed, until pupils can ask 
intelligent questions upon the subjects under consider- 
ation, they give no clear evidence that they properly 
understand these subjects. But more, until they can 
question themselves closely upon every subject of 
study, they have not acquired the true power or art of 
studying. Hence it follows that teachers should en- 
courage their pupils, in every way possible, to form 
the habit of sharp self-questioning, as a means of solving 
and explaining difficulties and of gaining clear views of 
subjects studied. 

71. Teachers should condition their pupils for success- 
ful work by giving tJicm sucJi specific directions or sug- 
gestions as will protect from zuaste of time and energy 
in wrong directions. 

(a). The proper use of this means in the teacher's 
work is very important. It is difficult, however, to de- 
termine always just when it is right and best to give 
specific directions to pupils in the act of teaching. Yet 
the course indicated by the often- repeated motto, 
" Never tell pupils what they can find out for them- 
selves," is, to say the least, very unwise. When this 
course is pursued rigorously great injustice is done to 
pupils. In many cases it results in complete discour- 
agement and entire neglect of self-effort in perform- 



I40 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

ing the work assigned. Difficulties which should be 
solved, because of their importance in advanced work, 
are passed over untouched. Pupils in such circum- 
stances content themselves with doing what is on the 
surface and can be performed with the least possible 
degree of self-effort 

(b). In the matter of giving specific directions or 
suggestions, the true motto should be : Tell pupils just 
what will save them from a wasteful application of 
time and energy in finding out for tJiemselves zvJiat has 
little if any value in promoting true self-development 
and self-equipment. In practically applying this motto 
great care must be taken not to tell what pupils should 
find out for themselves. The following propositions 
indicate the lines in which telling is admissable : 

(i). Specific directions or suggestions should be giv- 
en to pupils only for the purpose of placing them in a 
proper attitude or condition to perform the work re- 
quired by the exercise of their own power. 

(2). Such directions or suggestions should never be 
in the form of specific rides which the pupils are re- 
quired to follow blindly in performing their work. 

(3). Such directions or suggestions should simply 
point out to the pupils just where and just how they 
can, by self-efTort, find the objects of their search or 
master the difficulties which they encounter. 

(4). Such directions or suggestions should always be 
such as will confine the pupils strictly to the line of 
self-effort which will best secure the definite results 
and the general ends for which they are working. 



MEANS rO BE USED IN TEACHING. I4I 

{c). Here it should be noted that in many, perhaps 
exceptional cases, pupils should be placed in possession, 
in the most direct manner, of information which it is 
quite possible for them to gain without any help from any 
source, but in doing so they would waste much valua- 
ble time without receiving any corresponding benefit. 
Of this sort is information, in the study of languages, 
in regard to special forms of words and constructions 
which are only of very rare occurrence ; of this sort also 
is information in regard to exceptional devices and 
contrivances by which alone certain results can be suc- 
cessfully reached in the study of Mathematics, Natural 
Sciences, etc. In all cases of this kind information 
should be given to pupils at once. Not to do so 
is a great mistake. 

72. 0}ily such teachers as possess substantially the 
following qualifications can use successfully the fore^ 
going means in their classroom work : 

(a). Teachers, to do effective work in the classroom, 
must possess a correct and, in a certain sense, exhaust- 
ive knowledge of the subjects on which they give in- 
struction, and also of subjects on which these are de- 
pendent. They must also possess a correct knowledge 
of the present attainments of their pupils, their present 
and past environments, and of the connection which 
the subjects under consideration sustain to the knowl- 
edge previously acquired. 

(b). Teachers, to do effective work, must make 
special preparation on each subject before attempting 



1 42 PRINCrPLES OF EDUCA TION. 

to present it in class. They must note with great care 
the root thoughts in each lesson around which details 
are naturally grouped ; they must analyze the subject 
to be presented into separate, dependent parts or units 
adapted to the pupils in class ; they must prepare per- 
tinent illustrations by which each step in the lesson can 
be presented properly to the class, and they must fix 
in their own minds, definitely and clearly, the results 
they propose, in class, to fix in the minds of their pu- 
pils. 

{c). Teachers should possess the power of holding 
vividly in their minds, while in the act of conducting 
their classes, the results which they seek to secure, and 
the general course the pupils must pursue in reaching 
these results. This power is largely the product of con- 
stant practice in making analyses and in forming de- 
scriptions, definitions, etc., not by recalling the words 
of another, but from the pictures held in consciousness 
of the things analyzed, described or defined. When 
this course is persistently followed it will develop, in 
time, the power of forming vivid mind-pictures of 
everything undertaken. 

(d). The teacher should possess the power of in- 
venting simple and pertinent illustrations, at the time 
they are required in class, which will call into service 
the present knowledge of the pupils, and hence place 
them in a position to understand the difficulties en- 
countered and to perform the required work. The 
exercise of this power depends upon the ability of 
teachers to perceive quickly and clearly, while per- 



THE MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS. 143 

forming their work, the difficulties in the minds of the 
pupils in reference to the results sought to be secured. 

THE MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS. 

The right management of a school constitutes one 
of the most important conditions which can be supplied 
for the development of true character. By right man- 
agement, however, is not meant a mechanical system 
of rules, false incentives, reports, rewards and punish- 
ments, and other devices by which good order may be 
maintained. These, if they have any place in a rightly- 
managed school, should be used very sparingly and with 
much caution. Good order is important, and should 
certainly be maintained, but it should never be re- 
garded as the chief end to be secured in school man- 
agement. The following brief outline indicates the 
leading principles which should guide teachers in this 
important department of their work. 

']'>y. The management of every school shonld be con- 
ducted in such a manner as to constitute a definite 
and thoroiigJi course of instruction and practice in 
self-government. 

(a). No acquirement which pupils make is more valu- 
able in after life than the power of self-government. 
This is very pointedly indicated in Prov. xvi., 32 : " He 
that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and 
he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city"; 
and also in Prov. xxv., 28 : *' He that hath no rule 



144 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down 
and without walls," The importance of making the 
management of schools effective instruments in the de- 
velopment of self-government cannot therefore be over- 
estimated. 

(h). Intellectual power and right intellectual habits 
are best acquired in the act of pursuing a prescribed 
course of study. This is universally conceded ; hence 
the care with which courses of study are arranged for 
this purpose. Moral power and right moral habits are 
acquired precisely in the same way. Instruction, for 
example, in the principles of geometry, in the absence 
of actual practice in demonstrating these principles, 
would fail utterly in developing mental power ; in like 
manner, instructions given to pupils in the principles 
of self-government are of no avail unless the right 
opportunity is given for the practice of these principles. 
Hence the management of every school should be so 
conducted as to give to the pupils this practice. 

{c). To accomplish in a proper manner the end just 
stated in {b) means that the pupils shall be assigned 
work in self-government just as regularly and definitely 
as in arithmetic, grammar, geography, algebra, etc. It 
means, also, that the work assigned for this purpose 
shall be rightly adapted to the needs of the pupils, as 
already fully explained in Art. 56. Infants in years, 
or in moral development, must not be asked to perform 
the work which requires the power and judgment of 
mature manhood. But, while this is true, it is equally 
true that each must be assigned this kind of work, as 



THE MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS. 1 45 

only in the act of governing self can the power of self- 
government be acquired. It is in the act of using the 
reason, the conscience and the will in directing the 
conduct of self and o{ others that these faculties are 
rightly developed and are placed in full control of the 
entire being. 

74. The teachers and pupils should be co-partners 
in the management of schools, and their relation to 
each other in this work sJiould be controlled by the 
following general principles : 

(a). The Golden Rule, '' As ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye also to them likewise," should 
be the standard by which to judge the right or the 
wrong of every action. 

(b). The highest good of the individual, so far as this 
is compatible with the highest good of the whole school, 
should be a fundamental principle in determining what 
courses of action can be legitimately allowed upon the 
part of teachers or pupils. 

{c). No requirement should be made of any pupil 
which would not be right, under similar circumstances, 
to make of every pupil in the school. 

{d). The spirit in which everything is done should 
always be considered more important than the form, 
and hence should be regarded, both by teachers and 
pupils, in forming a judgment of the character and 
value of every act. 

{e). From the very nature of the relation between 
teachers and pupils, the teachers must always be con- 



146 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

sidered the proper judges of what is to be viewed, 
under any given circumstances, as right or wrong. 
The judgment of the pupils must, however, be care- 
fully consulted, and, before making a final decision 
in any given case, all the circumstances in any way 
affecting the case must be fully canvassed. 

(/). The relations of teachers and pupils are such 
as to involve a pledge, on the part of both, to regard 
the interest of each other as sacred, which pledge should 
always be assumed as given when pupils enter a school. 

75.. The course of training in self-government should 
include such privileges, restrictions and requirements 
as will give the reason, the conscience, and the will the 
exercise necessary for tlieir proper development. 

{a). The privileges, restrictions and requirements 
used in school management should invariably be 
assigned to the pupils as a part of the course of 
instruction and practice through which they must pass 
in accomplishing their own self-development and self- 
equipment. The pupils should, therefore, be led to 
regard these lines of effort in the same light as their 
work in literary and other subjects. Privileges, 
restrictions and requirements should in no case be 
presented to the pupils in the form of a body of rules, 
which they must rigidly obey, or else forfeit the con- 
fidence of their teachers, and perhaps subject them- 
selves to some form of punishment. Such a treatment 
of pupils is entirely wrong, and necessarily inflicts 
upon them permanent injury. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS. 1 4/ 

(b). Privileges are an important element in develop- 
ing the power of self-government. They constitute 
one of the best tests that can be used to determine the 
trustworthiness of pupils. They must, however, be 
judiciously granted and carefully graded, according to 
the abihty of pupils to use them rightly. They should 
also be gradually extended just as the moral strength 
of the pupils will warrant. In doing this, however, 
the privileges granted must be such as are strictly in 
accordance with acknowledged principles of right, and 
such as can be given to every pupil under similar 
circumstances ; and such also as will promote in the 
best manner the objects for which the pupils are in 
school. 

{c). Restrictions of a certain kind are a necessity in 
school management, aside from their special use in 
promoting self-government. They should all, however, 
be made to contribute, as far as possible, to this latter 
purpose. This can only be done to the extent they 
become voluntary. Involuntary restrictions may an- 
swer, in an imperfect way, the end of maintaining 
order, but they fail entirely in developing the power 
of self-government. Indeed, they have the opposite 
effect. Pupils who are always kept orderly by the 
force of conditions which they are unable to resist 
must gradually lose the power of self-control, and be- 
come even untrustworthy when the restraints by which 
they are held are removed. Hence it is the impera- 
tive duty of teachers to avoid imposing restrictions 
which well-disposed pupils cannot voluntarily accept as 



14^ PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

necessary to promote the best interests of the school as 
a whole. 

{d). Judicious teachers, possessed of tact, can readily 
get their pupils voluntarily to Impose upon themselves 
just as severe restrictions as may be necessary to main- 
tain the best of order, and, at the same time, test and 
develop successfully the power of self-contol. Severe 
restrictions are very important for this latter pur- 
pose. Self-control of the highest order can be ac- 
quired only under severe conditions. But these condi- 
tions, to be effective in promoting this end, must be 
self-imposed. They must also be reached by a gradual 
process of development. At first, restrictions imposed 
should be such as will require no strained effort upon 
the part of the pupils to comply with them. They 
should, however, be made gradually more difficult, 
just as rapidly as the pupils gain the necessary 
strength. 

(e). Special practice should be given in this line. 
Gymnastic and military drill serve a good purpose in 
acquiring one kind of self-control. But such exercises 
have little value in developing that self-control which 
directs the inner workings of the mind, which, for ex- 
ample, puts under perfect subjection the unruly tend- 
encies of the passions. For this purpose a higher 
order of exercises than gymnastics or military drill 
must be provided. Pupils must gain this kind of 
self-control by voluntarily submitting themselves to 
proper, but severe, restrictions in special lines of 
conduct. The restrictions imposed for this purpose 



THE MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS. 149 



should, in every case, be such as are in perfect har- 
mony with the principles of right ; such as the pupils 
can readily see will assist them in acquiring the power 
of self- control ; such also as necessarily grow out of a 
sympathetic relation between the pupils and their 
teachers, and such as will do no violence to any phase 
of the inherent and natural rights of the pupils. 

(/). Restrictions are chiefly negative in their nat- 
ure, and hence train the pupils specially in the exer- 
cise of self-denial. They have, however, a positive 
side also. Not to do, under certain circumstances, is to 
gain the ability to do the opposite of what may be 
very agreeable and even strongly pressed upon us. 
This kind of training is important. Yet it is one- 
sided and defective unless supplemented by a wide 
range of positive requirements. These should include 
not only the duties which pupils owe to themselves, but 
also the duties and obligations which they owe to 
others. Selfishness is a deeply-rooted principle of hu- 
man nature. The exercise, therefore, of self-control 
under the influence of this principle may be an easy 
matter, while very difficult when selfishness must be 
set aside in the interests of others. Hence special at- 
tention should be given in the management of schools 
to making requirements of pupils that will develop 
in them such a power of self-control and sympathy for 
others as will fit them to discharge effectively the du- 
ties and responsibilities that will come to them in 
connection with the trying relations and experiences 
of an active life. 



150 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATIOIV. 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 

The work of teachers, as already pointed out, 
includes whatever is necessary to be done to 
develop and equip every phase of the nature of their 
pupils. Hence the training of teachers, if properly 
accomplished, must cover each of the qualifications 
required for the right discharge of the duties and 
responsibilities which the nature and extent of this 
work impose. The following brief outline calls atten- 
tion to the course of instruction and practice by which 
these qualifications can, ordinarily, be best acquired : 

NATURE OF TRAINING WORK. 

76. Teaching is, in a marked sense, an art as well as 
a science. This fact must be fully recognized in every 
well-directed effort to train teachers for their work. 

(a). All training must be based upon the assump- 
tion of the possession of a minimum of natural 
ability ; but, whatever the natural ability pos- 
sessed may be, persistent practice, under the 
guidance of competent instructors, is the only 
sure course to attain, with the least expenditure 
of time and effort, the full mastery of self, and of the 
principles and processes of the special work for which the 
teacher is preparing. Artisans and artists alike recognize 
the truth of this position, hence the practical courses 
of training to which they submit themselves. The 
training of teachers rightly conducted must follow in 



NATURE OF TRAINING WORK. 151 

the same line. The teacher acquires the abihty to do 
successful work, just as the artisan or artist does, by 
persistent practice under favorable conditions. 

(b). The intelligent and practical study of the science 
of education should be based upon at least a limited 
experience in the art of teaching. To know aright we 
must do. " If any man will do his will, he shall know 
of the doctrine." This principle is now universally re- 
cognized as of first importance in the study of the 
natural sciences. It is, however, doubly important in 
the study of those sciences in which the art ox power to 
do is the outcome sought in the examination of every 
principle. Professional instruction, therefore, in the 
principles and practices of good teaching can be given 
in a rational and effective manner, only as it is based 
upon some previous experience, and is carried on hand 
in hand with actual practice in the class-room. 

'J J. The instruction and practice given iit a properly ar- 
ranged teachers' training course should cover substantially 
every li^ie of work for which the student is preparing. 

(a). It is not necessary that instruction and practice 
should be given in every possible subject students may 
have to teach after they have completed their training 
course. There are general principles and practices 
which, when thoroughly mastered, can be applied 
equally well to the teaching of an entire group of allied 
subjects, as, for example, languages or the natural 
sciences. While this is true, it must, however, be care- 
fully noted, that the instruction and practice given in 



152 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

each group of subjects must provide fully for the 
modifications of these general principles, which the 
teachers under training will have to make to adapt 
their instruction to the actual condition of their future 
pupils. These pupils will vary in age, environments, 
capacity, natural and acquired receptivity and energy, 
and habits of application to mental work. These 
variations must, therefore, be taken fully into account 
in the work done in the training course. The training 
that may fit a teacher to do excellent work in the 
higher mathematics may fail entirely to give the right 
preparation for doing good work in intermediate and 
primary classes. Hence the teachers under training 
must be graded and receive instruction and practice in 
the lines which they themselves must follow in grading 
the pupils they are preparing to teach. 

(b). Ability to teach, as commonly understood, is 
only one, and perhaps not the most important, quaHfi- 
cation of good teachers. This qualification fits them 
chiefly to impart knowledge to their pupils in a natural 
and effective manner. This is important and well, but 
the most important function of true teachers is to 
impart character, true manhood, true womanhood, to 
their pupils. Where this is not done, the knowledge 
imparted may prove a snare and a curse to its re- 
cipients ; hence, in the training of teachers, chief stress 
should be placed upon supplying conditions that will 
develop the moral and spiritual sides of their natures, 
and will also give them the power to produce in their 
own pupils the same results. 



NATURE OF TRAINIIVG WORK. 1 53 

(c). The moral and spiritual training of teachers 
must be conducted substantially in the same manner 
as already indicated for other parts of the training 
work. The discussion of principles of right living, 
home life, school government, etc., must be conducted 
hand in hand with actual practice. This will require 
that the students under training should be made re- 
sponsible for every detail of the management of the 
practice school. It will also require that they 
should be placed in the same relations to the 
classes they teach as they will sustain after- 
wards to classes in their own schools. In ad- 
dition to this they must have actual instruction 
and practice in giving moral and Bible lessons, and be 
held responsible for conducting themselves before the 
school as consistently, in every respect, as the regular 
training-school teachers. 

'j'^. A properly conducted teachers' training course 
must provide appliances and conditions that ivill rightly 
Promote the development and study of self, and also the 
study of the principles and laws which determine the 
symmetrical development of the infant^ the child, the 
youth and the man. 

(a). Self-knowledge and self-control are among the 
most essential qualifications of a successful teacher and 
school-manager. Without these, scholarship and other 
important qualifications will necessarily fail to be effect- 
ively utilized. Hence, in the training course, special 
attention must be given to this phase of the work. 



154 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION'. 



The maxim '' Man, know thyself " must be insisted 
upon. And to this end, each teacher must be con- 
ditioned so as to make self-study a necessity. 

(b). Self-study may be promoted in various ways. 
Among these may be named the free discussion in 
class of typical cases, and the assignment of work to 
the students which will expose defects and weaknesses, 
and also bring to light elements of strength and effect- 
iveness. In these class discussions, while carefully 
avoiding personalities, the typical cases considered and 
analyzed must place before the members of the class, 
as in a mirror, such true representations of themselves 
as cannot fail to be recognized. The work assigned to 
promote the study of self must be carefully adjusted 
to the actual condition and needs of each student. 
Here the object is to confront each student with such 
conditions as will necessitate such a correct knowledge 
of self as must be had in order effectively to remove 
defects and develop right teaching and managing 
power. 

(c). Teaching and managing power is largely de- 
pendent upon the ability of the teacher to assume in 
a true sense the place of the pupil. '' Put yourself in 
his place " is a maxim that must be followed in all 
successful school work. Hence, in the training course, 
special stress must be placed upon this phase of work. 
The students under training must be required to 
analyze and trace with accuracy their own personal 
experience in the act of acquiring a knowledge of the 
various subjects they are preparing to teach, and also 



NATURE OF TRAINING WORK. 1 55 

the conditions and experiences through which they 
have acquired mental power, right habits, and pure and 
elevated tastes. They must also be required to analyze 
and trace in the same manner the experiences through 
which they have passed in every step of their moral 
and spiritual development, and in the formation of 
their present character. This process of retrospection 
and constant self-examination in the act of training 
teachers cannot be too strongly insisted upon, as it is 
the chief exercise by which they are qualified to place 
themselves in sympathetic and helpful working rela- 
tions to their pupils. 

(^). " The study of man is man " expresses a truth 
which must be carefully heeded in the training of 
teachers. The study of books on psychology and on 
the science and art of teaching is valuable and sugges- 
tive when the student is properly prepared for such 
study. This study, however, cannot take the place, in 
the training of teachers, of the study of the living 
specimens. By the study of books familiarity may be 
acquired with what others have said on the nature and 
constitution of man, but this will fail to cultivate in 
teachers what will serve them best in dealing with 
their pupils. Instead of being satisfied with fine de- 
scriptions of other men's observations, they must 
acquire the power, the tastes, and the habits which 
will enable them to make for themselves the very ob- 
servations on which these descriptions are based. 
This is the training teachers need. They must study 
for themselves, under the guidance of experienced 



156 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

leaders, the living specimens — the infant, the child, the 
youth and the man. These must be studied in their 
normal state, amid the various changes and conditions 
through which they pass in the process of develop- 
ment. This is the kind of training that will place 
teachers in intimate and living relations to their pupils, 
that will give them the power of perceiving quickly 
and clearly the real condition of the minds of their 
pupils, and hence will enable them rightly to adapt 
both instruction and management to this condition. 

TEACHERS' TRAINING COURSE. 

The nature and extent of a teachers' training course 
must depend upon the nature and extent of the work 
for which the training is to be given. Hence, before 
outhning ? course, it is necessary to recall some of 
what has already been said on the true nature of 
education and of the teacher's work. 

79. The process of education has been defined in 
Art. 3 as that by which external conditions or applia^ices 
are made by the action of an agent the means of un- 
folding or developing symmetrically all the legitimate 
possibilities of a single life. 

{a). Accepting this definition as substantially correct, 
the process of education involves three elements : 
namely, the pupil or party developed, the conditions 
or appliances by which the development is effected, 
and the teacher or agent who directs the process of 



TEACHERS' TRAINING COURSE. 157 

development Each of these three elements has been 
already fully discussed. Here it is only necessary to 
note that the possibilities in pupils are of four kinds : 
namely, physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual, and 
that conditions and apphances for the harmonious 
development of all these possibilities must be supplied 
by the teacher. Hence the training imparted must 
provide for this fourfold work. 

(U). Here it must also be carefully noted that the 
symmetrical development of the four classes of possi- 
bihties in the pupil's nature is not the result, as is 
very commonly supposed, of knowledge imparted by 
the teacher or acquired from any other source. The 
acquisition of knowledge is but a small element in the 
development of character or true manhood or true 
womanhood. A symmetrical character of the highest 
order is the product of a pure body, inhabited by a 
rightly developed intellect, accompanied by right 
habits and pure and elevated tastes, and the whole 
subordinate to the control of a rightly developed 
moral and spiritual nature. Such a character, or any 
approximation to it, is not the product of acquired 
knowledge. It is a growth which takes place in the 
presence of surroundings and conditions embodying 
the very elements of which it is composed. Just as 
life comes from life, so character comes from char- 
acter. To supply the surroundings and conditions 
that will enable pupils to approximate, as nearly 
as possible, to such a character, is the special 
work of all true teachers. For this work, there- 



158 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

fore, their training course should thoroughly prepare 
them. 

{c). The lines of work by which this preparation can 
be best effected may be classified under the following 
heads, namely : Physical Training, Academic or Intel- 
lectual Training, Moral and Spiritual Training, and Pro- 
fessional Training. Each of these lines of work, in 
order to afford the right preparation for teaching, must 
be conducted, step by step, with special and constant 
reference to this end. The great object to be accom- 
plished in a training course is to discover clearly to the 
persons under training the processes, conditions and 
appliances by which the four classes of possibilities of 
their own nature have been most effectively developed, 
and to impart to them at the same time the power, 
habits, tastes and tact necessary rightly to direct, in the 
use of these processes, conditions and appliances, in the 
education of others. The following brief statement of 
each of these lines of work will serve to indicate the 
course that should be pursued. 

PHYSICAL TRAINING. 

80. The body is capable of a development and train- 
ing which will give to it special and effective power in 
school work, especially zvith primary and intermediate 
pupils. 

{a). The physical nature of pupils of these grades 
is peculiarly active, and this dominates all of their 
actions. It is very important at this stage rightly to di- 



PHYSICAL TRAINING. 159 

rect this activity so as to assure a healthy growth of the 
body. All successful efforts, therefore, for the intellec- 
tual, moral and spiritual development of such pupils 
must regard this fact, and be carried on in harmony 
with it. Hence teachers, whose physical training has 
not fitted them to sympathize with, participate in, and 
direct the physical activities of their pupils, must neces- 
sarily fail of proper success in the intellectual, moral and 
spiritual phases of their work. Without the right kind 
of physical training teachers cannot, by personal con- 
tact or otherwise, supply the conditions and stimuli 
that are necessary to convert the natural physical ac- 
tivity of their pupils into an invaluable help in other 
lines of development. 

ib). The special physical training which, should be 
given to teachers must have reference, first, to the 
symmetrical development of their own bodies, and sec- 
ond, to the multifarious school work in which the body 
performs so important a part. Teachers must be ex- 
amples in all things to their pupils. They must never 
forget the accuracy with which even young pupils 
note, read and imitate the elements of weakness and 
power in their personal appearance and conduct. 
Where teachers are careless and indifferent in these 
matters, they necessarily foster, strongly, habits of the 
same kind in their pupils. The pupils will not usually 
rise higher in these respects than the example placed 
before them. This remark is true of the entire range 
of school work and school requirements. Hence 
teachers, in order to do the highest kind of work in the 



l6o PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

school-room, must be able to say to their pupils in 
every case '^ come,'' and not '' go.'' They must appear 
at all times before their classes as models of propriety 
and physical activity, rightly directed, and adapted to 
every line of work in which they engage. 

8i. The physical training given to teachers , in order 
to be of practical value, must be continued until the 
bodily changes produced become habits or a second 
nature, and should cover substantially the following 
ground : 

(a). The systematic development of the body as a 
necessary condition of true mental development and 
also of effective physical work. This will require vig- 
orous outdoor sports and exercises, which must be 
entirely free from the efforts and constraints of games 
conducted for professional ends. 

(b). The development of such physical activity as 
will give sprightliness and gracefulness to every move- 
ment of the body. For this purpose systematic train- 
ing must be given in calisthenics and gymnastics. 

{c). The practical training of the body, which comes 
from the constant performance of school work in a 
systematic, spirited and healthful manner, should receive 
special attention. This is an important phase of phys- 
ical training. As already pointed out, the action and 
personal appearance of teachers in performing their 
work have a powerful influence in shaping the conduct 
and character of their pupils. An awkward and un- 
decided manner, for example, not unfrequently destroys, 



PHYSICAL TRAINING. l6l 

almost entirely, the teacher's power to control pupils. 
In like manner, an awkward way of working at the 
blackboard may largely destroy the desired effect, upon 
a class, of a very clear explanation. Hence the impor- 
tance of such physical training as will give naturalness, 
freedom and decision to every motion and position of 
the body in the act of performing any kind of school 
work. 

{d). In the physical training course particular em- 
phasis must be placed upon the development of the 
organs which have special value in educational work. 
The sensory organs stand first in this respect. The 
object to be attained in this case is to make each sense 
a reliable instrument for collecting the necessary data 
for mental work, and for directing the effective use of 
the other organs of the body. The training here 
should be systematic and should include the careful 
exercise of the senses on a wide range of natural and 
artificial products, such as the pupils will come in con- 
tact with in practical life. 

The training of the hand comes second in order. A 
rightly trained hand is one of the most important 
qualifications for school work a teacher can possess. 
Without this, there are several lines of school work 
which must of necessity be very imperfectly performed. 
This training should include penmanship, free-hand 
drawing, the handling and practical application of the 
various kinds of tools used in the mechanic arts, and 
the handling and practical use of such apparatus as are 
necessary in giving instruction in the elements of the 



i6^ PRINCIPLES OF Education. 

natural sciences. The instruction and practice in this 
case should be given in the lines of work that possess 
the greatest educational value, and that will, while 
training the hand, provide the right material and con- 
ditions for the training of the senses. 

The next in order is the training of the vocal organs. 
This should partake of the nature of vocal gymnastics, 
and should only form the basis of voice culture proper. 
Special stress should be placed upon such exercises as 
will impart power to teachers in the use of their voice 
in teaching, and also in the matter of controlling pupils. 
The misuse of the voice is, with many teachers, a source 
of great weakness and the cause of much of the trouble 
they have in managing their pupils. 

ACADEMIC OR INTELLECTUAL TRAINING. 

82. The academic training for primary and gram- 
mar school teachers should cover in a thorough man- 
ner all the subjects of a good English education. 

(^.) This part of the work, so far as it relates simply 
to mental discipHne and the acquisition of knowledge, 
may be done in good high schools and academies. In 
such schools, however, the acquisition of knowledge is 
regarded as of paramount importance, and hence they 
fail to place sufficient stress upon the development of 
mental power, and the formation of right habits and 
tastes for independent intellectual work. They fail also, 
almost entirely, in causing the students, while pursuing 
academic studies, to gain a clear insight into the pro- 



ACADEMIC OR INTELLECTUAL TRAINING. 1 63 

cesses and methods by which their teachers have en- 
abled them to gain the mastery of each study pursued. 
{h). The defects just pointed out, in the way in 
which academic work is usually done, in the regular 
classes in high schools and academies, make it neces- 
sary, in order to give students preparing to teach the 
right kind of instruction, to organize and conduct classes 
in almost every academic subject exclusively for them- 
selves. Where this is not done, high schools and acade- 
mies largely fail in giving the preparation necessary to 
pursue successfully the professional part of the training 
course. Hence it usually becomes necessary to give to 
students a thorough review, on the more important or 
representative subjects, before allowing them to enter 
upon professional work. In this review special promi- 
nence must be given to the features of work referred to 
in {a)y which failed to receive proper attention in the 
first study of the subjects. 

83. Students preparing to teach must be required, 
while pursuing for the first time, or reviewing their 
academic studies, to give special attention to the fol- 
lowing worky a7td report successfully upon the same, 
in writing, as a condition to entering upon the pro- 
fessional work. 

(a). The order in which each topic, in each subject 
studied, was discussed in class by the teacher. 

{b). The illustrations and devices used by the teacher 
to enlist the attention of the students and make plain 
difficult points in the topics discussed. 



1 64 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

(c). The methods of drill pursued in fixing perma- 
nently in the memory the truths presented in class. 

(d). The mental processes by which the student him- 
self reached, by the aid of teachers, books, and other 
surroundings, the solution of every difficulty encount- 
ered in the subjects studied. 

(e). The method pursued and tact shown by each 
teacher in the management or government of classes, 
and also the course pursued in the general management 
of the whole school. 

(/). The keeping of careful memoranda on the fore- 
going points in form to be submited for the inspection of 
the teacher of each class when each subject is completed. 
These memoranda, and the examinations passed upon 
each subject, should form the basis from which to judge 
whether students are prepared or not to enter upon the 
professional training. 

MORAL AND SPIRITUAL TRAINING. 

84. The possession of the right kirid of moral and 
spiritual training is the crowning qualification of the 
true teacher. 

(a). This training has specially to do with the inner 
life, which is the real source of all outward conduct. 
Here the requirement is : " Keep thy heart with all dili- 
gence, for out of it are the issues of life." Until teach- 
ers can do this for themselves, with some degree of suc- 
cess, they are not properly prepared to become the 
keepers and trainers of the hearts of others. The 



MORAL AI^D SPIRITUAL TRAI.VLVG. 1 65 



I 



acquisition of this power is, therefore, imperative upon 
all teachers. Only by the possession of this can they 
accomplish the highest good of their pupils. 

(b). A certain minimum of moral training is possible 
upon the basis of an unregenerate nature. Only the 
regenerate heart, however, is capable of the training 
which develops the highest order of manhood or 
womanhood, and which prepares, at the same time, for 
the highest order of service as an exemplar, instructor 
and lelder of others. Without the quahfication which 
this training gives, teachers must fail to come into ef- 
fective touch, in the best sense, with the moral and 
spiritual possibilities of their pupils. They must, there- 
fore, fail in a large measure in doing the most impor- 
tant work of their calling. 

85. Successful moral and spiritual training, are alike 
the result of a wise union of instruction and practice. 

{a). The key to success in this department of train- 
ing is found in following Christ's statement, John vii. 
17: '^f man will do His will, he shall know of the 
doctrine." The value of moral and religious knowl- 
edge simply, in the formation of a true character, is 
greatly overestimated. The possession of such knowl- 
edge in a formal way is compatible with a life of wick- 
edness and immorality. " Devils also believe and trem- 
ble." James ii. 19. Devils also know, but they remain 
devils still. Hence, only that kind of moral and re- 
ligious knowledge which is evolved outof a life, or which 
after being acquired from without is embodied in a 



1 66 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

life, can help to produce a true and reliable character. 
Hence, also, effective moral and spiritual instruction 
can be imparted only in the act of practising what is 
taught 

(b). The healthy development of the moral and spir- 
itual natures is as really the product of food and exer- 
cise as the healthy development of the body. The food 
in the former case consists of moral and spiritual truth, 
in the latter of material substances. The exercise in 
the former case consists of active service for the good 
of our fellow-creatures and for the glory of God, in 
the latter of rightly directed physical exercise and em- 
ployments. In both cases, to secure the best results, 
the food and exercise must accompany each other, and 
must be united in right proportions and be administered 
at the right time and under proper conditions. The 
Scripture injunction on this subject is : *' Grow in grace 
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ." 2 Peter iii. i8. The growth in grace or vir- 
tues goes hand in hand with the growth in knowledge. 
Both are inseparably joined together. As illustrating 
this necessary union between knowledge and practice in 
the development of a strong moral and spiritual char- 
acter, Christ represents the man who heareth and doeth 
as the wise man who has acquired the power to withstand 
the severest storms of this life. ** Every one, therefore, 
which heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, 
shall be likened unto a wise man, which built his house 
upon the rock ; and the rains descended, and the floods 
came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; 



MORAL AND SPIRITUAL TRAINING. 1^7 



and it fell not: for it was founded upon the ^rock." 
Matt. vii. 24, 25. 

86. The course of moral ajid spiritual training should 
provide such instruction and actual practice as will 
fix permanently in the mind and heart Bible principles 
of right living. 

(a). This must include such exercises as will develop 
a vigorous and sensitive conscience— a conscience that 
will command attention and enforce obedience to its 
decisions under the most trying circumstances. Such 
results can be secured only by persistent practice in 
making careful and critical decisions upon questions of 
right and wrong. The students under training must 
therefore be required to examine and pronounce judg- 
ment as to the right and wrong involved, in the most 
trivial as well as the most important matters with 
which as teachers they may have to do. Here it must 
be noted that a mistake is very commonly made in re- 
gard to the province of the conscience. It is, by many, 
as has already been, pointed out, practically restricted 
in its operations to what is known as the spiritual side 
of our nature. Conscience, with such, has nothing to 
do with ordinary affairs of life and the exercise of the 
functions of the body. This is a great mistake, and 
leads to fatal results, especially in the training of in- 
fants and children. The decisions of the conscience 
are co-extensive with our existence and the work of 
our entire being. They alone settle authoritatively 
when, where, how, and for what purpose each func- 



1 68 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

tion of the body and each power of the mind ought to 
be exercised. 

(h). In harmony with what has just been stated, the 
training of the conscience must commence with the 
infant and be continued up to mature Hfe. In the case 
of the infant, the consciousness of the ought and of the 
ought not accompanies every experience he passes 
through in which he knows that one of two courses 
can be pursued, one of which will avoid pain and 
suffering. As he matures in mind and body, the range 
of this consciousness extends until it includes every 
activity of his being. If rightly guided in the educa- 
tional processes that take place during the periods of 
infancy, childhood and youth, the habit will be firmly 
fixed of never acting until the conscience has given 
its decision as to the right or wrong involved in the 
course of action proposed. Hence the importance upon 
the part of teachers under training of making a special 
practical study of this subject. They should be re- 
quired to discover by careful observation the peculiar 
moral tendency of each pupil in their classes, and to 
record the same in good form for examination by their 
teachers. They should also be required to accompany 
this record by carefully prepared suggestions on the 
appliances that should be used, in special cases, to 
counteract evil tendencies and strengthen what is good, 
and thus promote, in the best way, courses of conduct 
that will crystallize into a strong moral character. 
The reports made in this v/ay by the student teachers 
should form the basis of discussion in class on the 



MORAL AND SPIRITUAL TRAINING. 1 69 

appliances and methods of moral and spiritual 
training. 

87. A proper supply of the right kind of moral and 
spiritual food and of moral and spiritual exercises 
must be provided in order to secure the successful de- 
velopment of a true character. 

(a) It has already been stated that moral and spirit- 
ual truth constitute the aliment for moral and spiritual 
development. While this is correct, it is not true that 
such truth can be used indiscriminately to effect this 
end. A careful selection must be made, corresponding 
with the stage of development reached. The milk is 
for babes and the strong meat for those of mature minds. 
In nothing, perhaps, do teachers more signally fail than 
in adapting the truths supplied their pupils to their 
actual condition and stage of progress. This remark 
applies to all kinds of truth, but especially to moral and 
spiritual truth. Hence the great necessity for the 
careful training of teachers in this department of their 
work. 

ib) The Bible is the foundation of all moral and 
spiritual teaching. Its simple and yet comprehensive 
objective representations cover the entire possible range 
of human experiences. Every relation of man to man, 
of man to God, of man to the present condition of 
things, and of man to the future state, is objectively and 
exhaustively presented in the Bible. The storehouse, 
therefore, from which to draw moral and spiritual food 
is complete and inexhaustible. It requires, however, 



I/O PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

trained minds and trained hearts, possessed of a correct 
and sympathetic knowledge of the real condition of the 
souls to be fed, to draw from this storehouse the very 
food that will meet the wants of these souls in the most 
effective manner. The training for this work requires 
the most careful and painstaking study of the Bible. 
In this study the Bible must not be treated as a mere 
literary or historical production, but as a perfect record 
of objective cases, which reveal clearly and infallibly 
the operative forces and consequences of all human 
actions, God's treatment of these actions, and His 
method of restoring lost human beings to filial affection 
and to Fatherly favor. This study should be conducted 
indentively, the same as other subjects. 



PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. 

Under this head will be outlined the course that 
should be pursued in giving to teachers the special 
professional training necessary to fit them for effective 
service in every department of their work. In this 
outhne it is assumed that the professional course is 
to follow such physical, academic and moral training 
as has already been outlined in Arts. ']'] to 84 in- 
clusive. It is assumed also that the object of this 
course is to fit teachers thoroughly rightly to con- 
dition their pupils (Arts. 60 and 66) to acquire in the 
best and most direct manner physical and mental 
power, right habits, pure and elevated tastes, system- 



PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. I /I 

atized knowledge and a reliable and symmetrical 
character (Art. 7). The preparation for such a 
responsible and far-reaching work as this should be 
broad and thorough, and should be made under such 
conditions as will secure the very best results. These 
conditions are substantially as follows : 

88. A thorough course of reading and instruction 
in the elements of Mental Physiology : 

(a). This line of study can be undertaken with profit 
only after the elements of Physiology and Hygiene 
have been thoroughly mastered. In the instruction 
given under this head man must be regarded as an 
organized unit composed of body and mind (Art. 4). 
The course should cover a very careful consideration 
of the following points: 

(b). The relation between the nervous system and 
physical and mental activity, including the special 
study of the functions of the motor and sensory 
nerves, the classification of these functions and their 
products, and the formulating of the laws which relate 
each class of nerves to its products. 

{c). The special senses, first, considered simply as phys- 
ical organs, and second, as the instruments by which the 
mind takes cognisance of the phenomena of the ex- 
ternal world. This should include a careful examina- 
tion into the nature and extent of the functions and 
of the products of each sense. It should also include 
an equally careful examination into the nature and 
extent of the physical and mental conditions and 



1/2 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

exercises that must be supplied in order rightly to 
train or educate each sense. 

(d). The special kinds of nerve activity that affect 
directly or indirectly the action of the mind in in- 
quiring sensations and sense perceptions, and also in 
the exercise of the power of ideation, of memory, 
of attention and of imagination. This should also 
include the careful study of the effects of nerve 
activity upon the passions, emotions and the action 
of the will. 

{e). The sports, amusements and other physical 
exercises which should be considered as necessary 
conditions of a healthy and vigorous nerve and men- 
tal activity. This should include a careful examina- 
tion of the principles which should determine the 
nature and extent of such exercise in connection with 
school work. 

89. A tho7'oiigJi course of reading and instruction 
in the elements of Psychology ^ following the instruction 
in Mental Physiology : 

{a). This course should be conducted with special 
reference to the work of teachers. Much that is of 
value and of intense interest to the investigator of 
psychological phenomena should be entirely omitted. 
The instructions given should be based largely upon 
the factS and principles discussed in Mental Physio- 
logy, and should follow the order of self-development. 
Art. 56 {d), rather than the logical order of the sub- 
ject. The following points should be very carefully 



PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. 1/3 

investigated and the results reached formulated and 
made a permanent possession. 

(b). The natural order of primary mental activities, 
namely sensation, sense perception and ideation ; the 
mental process involved in each of these activities; 
and the conditions by which this process can in each 
case be intensified and gradually enlarged in the scope 
of its operations. 

{c). The mental process involved in forming con- 
cepts and judgments, in acts of imagination, in con- 
ducting courses of reasoning, and the progressive 
nature of the conditions and exercises by which the 
process peculiar to each of these forms of mental 
activity can be developed and strengthened. 

(d). The laws of mental and physical association by 
which past objects of consciousness are recalled into 
present consciousness, by which, also, induced states, 
such as habits and tastes, are stimulated and called 
into present action ; and the manner of conducting 
every department of school work so as to form strong 
associations which will, whenever required, readily 
recall into present service past objects of conscious- 
ness and past induced states of body and mind. 

{e). The mental process called studying ; the mental 
activity or state called attention; and the nature of 
the exercises by which each of these important forms 
of mental activity can best be strengthened and 
properly utiHzed in performing mental work. 

(/). The conscience, the emotions and the will ; the 
relations they sustain to each other ; the place that 



1/4 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

each should be given in the educational process, and 
the exercises and conditions by which each can be 
developed and made efifective in the formation of a 
true character. 

90. Based upon Mental Physiology and Psyehologyy 
a course of reading and instruction in school organiza- 
tion and school management covering substantially the 
following ground : 

(a). The best methods of conducting examinations, 
of grading, of classifying and of making promotions. 

(b). The general arrangement of the school, the 
seating, the use of classrooms, division of time, inter- 
missions and change of classes. 

(c). Physical exercises, their nature and extent, the 
management of play grounds and of all out-door sports. 

(d). Management, general principles, methods of 
deahng with special cases, legitimate rewards and 
punishments, suspensions and exclusions when justi- 
fiable. 

(e). The relation of teachers to parents or guardians, 
the rights and obligations of both parties, how far 
oarents should be consulted in special cases of dis- 
cipline, the limits of the control of teachers over their 
pupils. 

(/). Records, reports, standings, nature and extent 
of the incentives that should be used ; private and 
pubUc exercises, their nature and extent ; literary 
societies, their place, their management and their 
influence. 



PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. 1/5 



i^g). Duties of Principals, their authority and respon- 
sibiHty; the assignment of work to their teachers; 
special and general duties of subordinate teachers. 

91. Instruction i7i methods, or the application of right 
principles of teachings based npoji clearly defined laws 
of physical and mental development : 

{a). The instruction under this head should first 
be given in the form of practical discussions upon 
right principles of teaching and their application to 
special subjects ; then in connection with actual teach- 
ing in the form of practical hints and suggestions, and 
of friendly yet rigorous criticism. 

(h). Principles of teaching have already been out- 
lined in Arts. 59 to 72, inclusive. In the discussion of 
the application of these principles it will not be neces- 
sary to consider all the subjects of an extensive curric- 
ulum. A careful selection can be made that wi41 
meet fully all requirements. Two things should, how- 
ever, always govern in making this selection : first, the 
subjects selected should cover every stage of the men- 
tal development of pupils ; second, the nature of the 
subjects should be such as will illustrate fully the change 
of method necessary in the pursuit of different lines 
of study or investigation. 

{c). The practice-teaching should be made to con- 
form as far as possible to the conditions with which 
teachers will have to do when their training course is 
completed. Pupil-teachers should be put in full charge 
of each class they instruct. They should be made 



1/6 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

responsible for the management and teaching of their 
classes in the same sense as they will be when con- 
ducting a school of their own. They should have 
charge of each class a sufficient time to test properly 
their abihty in managing and in carrying to a suc- 
cessful finish a definite portion of the subject taught. 
The time necessary for such a result should vary from 
five to ten weeks, according to the nature of the sub- 
jects. 

(d^. The practice- teaching of pupils should be un- 
der the most careful supervision of experienced teach- 
ers. This supervision should, however, be conducted 
in such a manner as to avoid a domineering spirit, 
which, to a great extent, reduces pupil-teachers to 
machines in performing their work. The object of the 
supervision should always be to encourage in every way 
possible originality and self-dependence in the pupil- 
teachers. The course of training should not destroy 
personality. It should rather correct defects, and in 
this way strengthen it. The following suggestions in- 
dicate what may be regarded as the proper course 
to be pursued by supervising or critic teachers in the 
discharge of their duties : 

(i). They should make it their chief aim to cor- 
rect effectually root-defects, which, when corrected, 
will remedy a large number of minor defects. It 
is a great mistake to indulge in criticising in de- 
tail these minor defects. They will, without fail, dis- 
appear when the root that supports them is cut off. 

(2), *' One thing at a time " is a necessary maxim in 



PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. I// 



the work of critic teachers, as well as in the work 
of pupils. Hence the removal of one root-difficulty 
at a time should be a guiding principle with critic 
teachers. The opposite course is extremely injurious. 
To spread out in a vivid manner before young and 
inexperienced teachers all of their weaknesses and 
defects at one time is not only discouraging to them, 
but takes from them largely the power of making the 
corrections in their work that are most important. 

(3). Critic teachers should, without fail, commend, 
upon all suitable occasions, points of excellency in 
the work of pupil-teachers. This phase of work 
is frequently partially, if not altogether, neglected. 
When pupil teachers are properly encouraged by 
having their excellencies pointed out, they will bear, 
and indeed solicit, the severe use of the critical knife 
in cutting off their defects. 

(4). The method of getting a correct estimate of 
the defects and excellencies of the work of pupil- 
teachers should be varied, according to the peculiar 
nature and needs of each teacher. The critic who 
takes a seat in the back or some other part of the 
room, with note-book and pencil in hand to jot down 
all noticeable defects, is ordinarily, in the case of young 
and inexperienced teachers, a very productive cause 
of defects. Such an extreme course as this should be 
carefully avoided. Critics should visit pupil-teachers 
in their work in a way that will encourage and inspire 
confidence, and hence allow them, when the critics 
are present, to be self-possessed, natural, and able 



1/8 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

to do at least average work. Critics possessed of 
proper qualifications can readily gain the confidence 
of the pupil- teachers, and hence perform their work 
in this manner. 

(5). Hints, suggestions and corrections which are 
strictly personal should be given to the pupil-teachers 
privately, and not in the presence of any of their 
classmates. There are, however, hints, suggestions 
amd corrections that should be presented in class. 
In this case all personalities should be avoided. The 
chief object of this exercise should be to point out 
the application of right principles of teaching in cor- 
recting defects which have appeared in the practice 
work of some of the pupils. The greatest freedom 
should be allowed to the pupils, in this discussion, 
in the way of asking and answering questions, and 
also in making suggestions and pointing out excel- 
lencies and defects in certain methods of teaching 
and managing. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



BOOKS IN HIGHER ENGLISH. 

Introd. Price 

Alexander : Introduction to Browning $1.00 

Arnold : English Literature 1.50 

Bancroft : A Method of English Composition 50 

Cook : Sidney's Defense of Poesy 80 

Shelley's Defense of Poetry 50 

The Art of Poetry 1.12 

Newman's Aristotle's Poetics 30 

Addison's Criticisms on Paradise Lost 00 

Bacon's Advancement of Learning 00 

Corson : Primer of English Verse 1.00 

Emery : Notes on English Literature 1.00 

English Literature Pamphlets : Ancient Mariner, .05 ; First Bunker 
Hill Address, .10 ; Essay on Lord Clive, .15 ; Second 
Essay on the Earl of Chatham, .15. 
Burke, I. and II. ; Webster, I. and II. ; Bacon ; Words- 
worth, I. and II.; Coleridge and Burns; Addison and 

Goldsmith Each .15 

Fulton &Trueblood: Choice Readings, $1.50; Chart . , . .2.00 

College Critic's Tablet 60 

Gamett : English Prose from Elizabeth to Victoria . . . 1.50 

Gayley : Classic Myths in English Literature 00 

Genung : Practical Elements of Rhetoric 1.25 

Handbook of Rhetorical Analysis 1.12 

Gummere : Handbook of Poetics 1.00 

Hudson : Harvard Edition of Shakespeare's Complete Works : — 

20 Vol. Edit. Cloth, retail, 825.00; Half-Calf, retail, 55.00 

10 Vol. Edit. Cloth, retail, 820.00; Half-Calf, retail, 40.00 

Life, Art, and Characters of Shakespeare. 2 vols. Cloth, 4.00 

New School Shakespeare. Each Play, Paper, .30; Cloth, .45 

Essays on Education, etc. Paper 25 

Text-Book of Poetry ; Text-Book of Prose . Each 1.25 

Classical English Reader 1.00 

Lockwood: Lessons in English, $1.12; Thanatopsis 10 

Maxcy : Tragedy of Hamlet 45 

Minto : Manual of English Prose Literature 1.50 

Characteristics of English Poets 1.50 

Schelling : Ben Jonson's Timber 80 

Sherman : Analytics of English Prose and Poetry 00 

Smith : Synopsis of English and American Literature . . . .80 

Sprague: Milton's Paradise Lost and Lycidas . 45 

Thayer : The Best Elizabethan Plays 1.25 

Thom : Shakespeare and Chaucer Examinations .... 1.00 

White : Philosophy of American Literature 30 

Whitney : Essentials of English Grammar 75 

Whitney & Lockwood : English Grammar 70 

Winchester : Five Short Courses of Reading in English Literature . .40 

AND OTHER VALUABLE WORKS. 

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers, 

Boston, New York, and Chicago. 



LATIN TEXT-BOOKS. 



« ^ , -^ . ^ INTROD. PRICE 

Allen & Greenoug-h : Latin Grammar (Rev. Ed.) $1.20 

Caesar (Rev. Ed., 7 books, with vocab., illustrated) . . 1.25 
Cicero (Rev. Ed., 13 orations, with vocab., illustrated) 1.25 

Ovid (with vocabulary) 1.40 

Sallust's Cataline ." 60 

Cicero de Senectute 50 

Preparatory Course of Latin Prose 1,40 

Latin Composition 1.12 

Allen : New Latin Method 90 

Introduction to Latin Composition 90 

Latin Lexicon 90 

Remnants of Early Latin 75 

Germania and Agricola of Tacitus 1.00 

Collar : Practical Latin Composition 1,00 

Gradatim 40 

Collar & Daniell : Beginner's Latin Book 1.00 

Latiue Reddenda, Paper, .20 ; with vocabulary, Cloth, .30 
College Series of Latin Authors : — 

Allen's Annals of Tacitus, Books I.- VI., Text Edi- 
tion, .40 ; Text and Notes 1,50 

Greenough's Satires and Epistles of Horace, Text 

Edition, .40 ; Text and Notes 1.25 

Greenough's Livy, Books I. and II., Text Edition, .40 ; 

Text and Notes 

Kellogg's Brutus of Cicero, Text Edition, .40 ; Text 

and Notes 1.23 

Orowell : Selections from the Latin Poets 1.4C 

Catullus (Part I. of Selections) 20 

Crowell & Richardson : Brief History of Roman Lit. (Bender) ... l.OG 

Ferguson : Questions on Caesar and Xenoj^hon 1.12 

Gepp & Haig-h : Latin-English Dictionary 1.30 

Ginn & Company : Classical Atlas and Geography, Cloth 2.00 

Greenough: Bucolics and 6 Books of Mneid (with vocabulary). . . 1.60 
For other parts of Virgil see Catalogue. 

Halsey : Etymology of Latin and Greek 1.12 

Leighton : Latin Lessons 1.12 

First Steps in Latin 1.12 

Madvig : Latin Grammar (Thatcher) 2.25 

Preble & Parker : Handbook of Latin Writing (revised) 50 

Preble : Terence's Adelphoe 25 

Shumway : Latin Synonymes 30 

Stlckney : Cicero de Natura Deorum 1.40 

Tetlow : Inductive Latin Lessons 1.12 

Tomlinson : Manual for the Study of Latin Grammar 20 

Latin for Sight Reading 1.00 

White (J. T.) Junior Students' Latin-English Lexicon (morocco). . 1.75 

English-Latin Lexicon 1.50 

Latin-English and English-Latin Lexicon (sheep) . . . 3.00 

Whiton : Auxilia Virgiliana ; or, First Steps in Latin Prosody, .15 

Six Weeks' Preparation for Reading Caesar .40 



Copies sent to Teachers for Examination, with a vieio to Introduction, on 
receipt of Introduction Price. The above list is not quite complete, 

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers. 

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. 



GREEK TEXT-BOOKS. 



Goodwin : 



Allen: Medea of Euripides '''''''''''• Fim 

Flag-g- : Hellenic Orations of Demosthenes .'..', {qq 

Seven against Thebes, $1.00 ; Anacreontics .' "35 

Greek Grammar <Rev. Ed.) i'^q 

Greek Moods and Tenses (Rev. Ed.) 2 00 

Greek Reader j ' kq 

Goodwin & White : Anabasis, with Illustrated Vocabulary! '.'.'.'.'.'. 1.50 

Selections from Xenophon and Herodotus 1 50 

Hog-ue: The Irregular Verbs of Attic Greek ' 150 

Jebt> : Introduction to the Study of Homer l'l2 

Leighton: New Greek Lessons '* i'2o 

Liddell & Scott: Greek-English Lexicon, $9.40: Abridged. l'2.5 

Parsons : Cebes' Tablet .' . " " '75 

Seymour: Homer's Iliad (School Edition) with Vocabiilarv 

Books I.-III., $1.25 ; Books I.-VI .' 1 GO 

Language and Verse of Homer, Paper, .60 ; Cloth. . . .75 
Homeric Vocabulary, .75; Selected Odes of Pindar.. 1.40 

Sidgwick : Greek Prose Composition 1 50 

Tarbell : Philippics of Demosthenes I'oo 

Tyler : Selections from Greek Lyric Poets l"oo 

White : Beginner's Greek Book I'sO 

Anabasis Dictionary \ l!25 

First Lessons in Greek 1.20 

Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles 112 

^^^ . Passages for Translation at Sight, Part IV !80 

Whiton : Orations of Lysias 1.00 

'Allen: Wecklein's Prometheus Bound of ^schylus. Text & Notes- 
Paper, $1.10; Cloth, $1.40. 
Beckwith ; Bacchantes of Euripides. Text & Notes : Pa. $0.95 ; Clo. 

$1.25. 
Bennett : Xenophon's Hellenica, Books V.-VII. Text & Notes : Pa 

$1.10; Clo. $1.40. 
D'Ooge : Antigone of Sophocles. Text & Notes: Pa. $1.10; Clo. $1.40 
Dyer: Plato's Apology and Crito. Text & Notes: Pa. $1.10; Clo. $1 40 
Flag-g- : Euripides' Iphigenia among the Taurians. Text & Notes : Pa. 

$1.10; Clo. $1.40. 
Fowler: Thucydides, Book V. Text & Notes: Pa. $1.10; Clo $140 
Humphreys: Aristophanes' Clouds. Text & Notes: Pa. $1.10; Clo. 

$1.40. 
Lodge : Gorgias of Plato. Text & Notes : Pa. $1.35 ; Clo. $1.65. 
Manatt: Xenophon's Hellenica, Books I.-IV. Text & Notes- Pa 

$1.35; Clo. $1.65. 
Morris: Thucydides, Book I. Text & Notes: Pa. $1.35; Clo. $1.65. 
Perrm: Homer's Odyssey, Books I.-IV. Text & Notes: Pa. $1.10; 

Clo. $1.40. 
Richardson : ^schines against Ctesiphon. Text & Notes : Pa. $1.10 : 
Clo. $1.40. ' 

Seymour: Homer's Iliad, Books I.-III. and Books IV.-VI. Each 

Text & Notes: Pa. $1.10; Clo. $1.40. 
Smith: Thucydides, Book VIL Text & Notes: Pa. $1.10; Clo. $1.40. 
LTowle: Protagoras of Plato. Text & Notes: Pa. $0.95; Clo. $1.25. 

Text of each, separate, 40 cents. 



Copies sent to Teachers for Examination, ivith a view to Introduction, on 
receipt of Introduction Price. The above list is not quite complete. 

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers, 

BOSTON, NEW YORK, and CHICAGO. 



MATHEMATICS. 



INTROD. PRICE 

Byerly : Differential Calculus $200 

Integral Calculus (Revised Edition) 2.00 

Comstock : Method of Least Squares 1.00 

Halsted : Mensuration 1.00 

Hardy : Quaternions, $2.00 ; Analytic Geometry 1.50 

Elements of the Calculus 1.50 

Hill : Geometry for Beginners, $1.00 ; Lessons in Geometry, .70 

Hyde : Directional Calculus 2.00 

Macfarlane : Elementary Mathematical Tables 75 

Runkle : Plane Analytic Geometry 2.00 

Taylor : Elements of the Calculus 1.80 

Wentworth : Primary Arithmetic 30 

Grammar School Arithmetic 65 

School Algebra. 1.12 

Shorter Course in Algebra 1.00 

Elements of Algebra 1.12 

Complete Algebra, $1.40; College Algebra 1.50 

New Plane Geometry 75 

New Plane and Solid Geometry 1.25 

Plane and Solid Geometry, and Trigonometry 1.40 

Analytic Geometry 1.25 

Plane Trigonometry and Tables, Paper .60 

PI. and Sph. Trig., Surv., and Navigation 1.12 

PI. and Sph. Trig., Surv., and Tables 1.25 

Trigonometric Formulas 1.00 

Wentworth & Hill : High School Arithmetic 1.00 

Exercises in Arithmetic, .80 ; Answers 10 

Exercises in Algebra, .70 ; Answers 25 

Exercises in Geometry ,70 

Five-place Log. and Trig. Tables (7 Tables) 50 

Five-place Log. and Trig. Tables (Complete Edition) 1.00 
Wentworth, McLellan & Glashan : Algebraic Analysis. ........ 1.50 

Wentworth & Reed : First Steps in Number (Pupils' Edition) 30 

First Steps in Number (Teachers' Edition) Com- 
plete, .90 ; Parts I., II., and III., each 30 

Wheeler : Plane and Spherical Trigonometry and Tables 1.00 



Copies sent to Teachers for Examination, loith a view to Introduction, on 
receipt of Introduction Price. 



GINN & COMPANY, Publishers, 

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. 



THE B EST HIST ORIES. 

MYERS'S 
Eastern Nations and Greece. — Introduction price, ^i.oo. With full 

maps, illustrations, and chronological summaries. 

" Far more interesting and useful than any other epitome of the kind which I 
have seen." — Professor Beckwith, Trinity College. 

ALLEN'S 
Short History of the Roman People. — Introduction price, ^i.oo. With 
full maps, illustrations, and chronological synopsis. 
*' An admirable piece of work." — Prof':ssor Bourne, Adelbert College. : 

MYERS AND ALLEN'S 
Ancient History for Schools and Colleges. — Introduction price, $1.50. 
This consists of Myers's Eastern Nations and Greece and Allen's 
Rome bound together. 

MYERS'S 
History of Rome. — Introd. price, $1.00, With full maps, illustrations, 
tables, and chronological summaries. This, bound with Myers's East- 
ern Nations and Greece, is Myers's Ancient History. Price, ^1.50. 

MYERS'S 
Mediaeval and Modern History. — Introduction price, $1.50. With a 

full series of colored maps. 

" Sure to be liked by teachers and pupils and by the general reader." — Professor 
Snow, Washington University. 

MYERS'S 

General History. — Introduction price, ^1.50. With full maps, illustra- 
tions, tables, and summaries. 
"The best text-book in universal history for beginners that we are acquainted 

with." — Professor Steartts, University of IVisconsin. 

MONTGOMERY'S 
Leading Facts of English History. — Introduction price, ^1.12. With 

full maps and tables. 

" I have never seen anything at all equal to it for the niche it was intended to fill." 
— Professor Perry, Williams College. 

MONTGOMERY'S 
Leading Facts of French History. — Introduction price, $1.12. With 
full maps and tables. 
*' It is a marked advance on any available work of its scope." — The Nation. 

MONTGOMERY'S 
Leading Facts of American History. — Introduction price, $1.00. With 

full maps, illustrations, summaries of dates, topical analyses, tables, etc. 

" The best school history that has yet appeared." — Principal Rupert, Boys' 
High School, Potts town, Pa. 

EMERTON'S 
Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages. — Introduction price, 

;^I.I2. With colored maps, original and adapted. 

" An admirable guide to both teachers and pupils in the tangled period of which it 
treats." — Professor Fisher, Yale College. 

And many other valuable historical books. 
6INN & COMPANY, Publishers. Boston. New York, Chicago, and London. - 



BOOKS FOR TEACHERS. 

Teachers' Prices, including postage. 

MBXHODS. 

Courses of Studies and Methods of Teaching, by John T. Prince, Agent 
of the Massachusetts State Board of Education. 75 cts, 
" I know of no other book in which the vital connection between prin- 
ciples and methods is made so apparent." — Ellen Hyde, Prin. State 
Normal School^ Framingham, Mass. 

ARITHMEXIC. 

The Teachers' Edition of " First Steps in Number," by Wentworth & 

Reed. 90 cts, ; in three parts, 30 cts. each. 

" It is admirable in plan and thoroughly worked out in its details. It 
deserves an immense success." — H. S. Tarbell, Supt. of Schools, Provi- 
dence, R.I. 

I.ANGUAOE. 
The Teachers' Edition of "How to Speak and Write Correctly" 

(Part I. of" Elementary Lessons in English"). 60 cts. 

" It seems to me that such a good book needs only its own presence to 
recommend it. It was prepared by an excellent teacher who has applied 
the true principles of teaching in her book. I earnestly recommend it to 
all teachers." — Francis W. Parker, Pritt. Cook Co. Normal School, III. 

Teachers' edition of Part II., 15 cts. 

MUSIC. 

The National Music Teacher and the New First, Second, Third, and 
Fourth National Music Readers (in which the directions for teachers 
have been incorporated) are the best guides to be had. 

HYGIBIVB. 

Lectures on School Hygiene, by five Boston physicians. 80 cts. A few 

vital sanitary topics treated in the light of much special study and 

experience. 

" Every thoughtful teacher will be more valuable to his school for hav- 
ing read it." — Ray Greene Ruling, Prhi. High School, New Bedford, 
Mass. 

KIXDERGARTKI^ STOMBS 
And Morning Talks, by Miss Sara E. Wiltse. 75 cts. Stories for each 

week in the school year, with numberless valuable suggestions. 

RBCORD BOOKS. 

Fisk's Improved Class Books. No. i, Fifteen Weeks, 90 pp., 30 cts. 
No. 2, Fifteen Weeks, 120 pp., 40 cts. No. 3, Twenty Weeks, 90 pp., 
30 cts. 

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers, 

Boston, New York, Chicago, and London, 



